WHERE IN THE WORLD IS CINDA NOW?

running back to saskatoon

Fri, 3 May 2013 08:33:30 -0700

By CINDA CHAVICH

Christie Peters might be too young to remember The Guess Who’s famous prairie tune, but she’s among the many expats who have been running back to Saskatoon.
The recently released 2011 census shows Saskatoon enjoyed the country’s biggest growth spurt – the population surged 11.4 per cent, nearly twice the national numbers. And while this prairie city is still small – just around 235,000 souls – the new blood seems to be the creative kind and much of it is settling in Riversdale.
“I dragged Kyle here from Vancouver,” says Peters, introducing her husband chef Kyle Michael who is trimming pork in the massive kitchen of their new hipster cocktail lounge and eatery, The Hollows.
It’s like a snapshot in time – John Fogarty is wailing on the stereo as Peters fills my vintage water glass, stenciled with a pheasant hunting scene, beneath the glow of boxy rosewood Chinese lanterns in the former Golden Dragon Chinese restaurant.
But it’s just one of the new businesses that’s making the transitional Riversdale district the new “it” spot in Saskatoon – old furniture stores, pawn shops and Chinese restaurants being transformed into cutting edge art galleries and cafes where baristas grind Intelligentsia coffee and yoga moms gather.
For Peters and Michael, who met while working at the former Feenie’s in Vancouver, Riversdale has all of the edgy, hipster vibe of Gastown, without the big city rent.
“Its got a rough reputation but more and more people are moving in,” says Peters who cooked at both Boneta and The Diamond, then at Michelin-starred De Kas in Amsterdam, before heading home to Saskatoon. “This place has character. It’s so vintage here – it sets the mood.”
If you haven’t been to Saskatoon in awhile, Riversdale is definitely a spot to explore.

‘HARLEM OF THE PRAIRIES’ NO MORE
Things are changing fast in this westside ‘hood that a decade ago earned the moniker ‘Harlem of the Prairies’ for its poverty and crime. The bustling new Saskatoon Farmers’ Market, in a restored city electrical warehouse, is an anchor in the renewal of Riversdale. It’s where these young chefs shop for the kind of fresh local ingredients they use in their seasonal menu, from wild seabuckthorn berries and artisan breads to heirloom carrots from a local urban SPIN gardener. Whether it’s Cava Secreta, the city’s first private wine store, with its vaulted brick cellars and regular upscale wine pairing dinners, or Three Sisters Bakery, supplying the neighborhood with quality baking while training aboriginal youth, creative people are taking risks in Riversdale.
Riversdale was one of the three original communities along the South Saskatchewan River that joined together to form the City of Saskatoon back in 1906. Literally on the “wrong side of the (CNR) tracks” it was a multicultural – mainly working class Ukrainian, German, Russian and Chinese – part of town. Today it’s a mix of Aboriginal and Chinese families with Vietnamese and African immigrants, and the new destination for creative types of all kinds.

THE ALT SIDE OF SASKATOON
It can still be a little dodgy after dark, but that doesn’t phase the crowd that gathers at Village Guitar & Amp to hear Luke Doucet or Wide Mouth Mason, join a weekend jam, and try out a special vintage or one-of-a-kind guitar.
“Here it comes, the flood is moving in,” says Daniel Canfield who opened the boutique music store in an old pawn shop, stripped down to its gritty concrete and exposed brick shell, with partner Todd Peters in September. “In a year or two this will be the new Broadway.”
He’s referring to Broadway Avenue, a popular strip of trendy boutiques and eateries on the east side of the river. The Broadway area has attracted most of Saskatoon’s creative businesses over the past 20 years - from the community-run Broadway Theatre and Bulk Cheese Warehouse gourmet market, to Daniel Walker’s locovore Weczeria restaurant and Christie’s Il Secondo artisan bakery. And though it’s definitely more gentrified, Riversdale’s renaissance may soon stretch that hip east side strip across the bridge to Saskatoon’s west side.

ACTS OF URBAN RENEWAL
Developer Curtis P. Olson is another young Saskatoon expat who’s returned home. It’s only been a few months since Olson’s Shift Developments opened The Two Twenty (thetwotwenty.ca) on Riversdale’s notorious 20th Street, converting an old furniture store into a new office/co-work space that’s attracting a variety of creative tenants, from photographers and designers to freelancers, non-profits and other small business people. Downstairs at Collective Coffee, baristas pull shots and create steamy latte art behind the funky salvaged wood and scrap metal espresso bar where local writers and actors gather.
Pushing the envelope in what he calls “acts of urban renewal,” Olson and his wife, musician Carrie Catherine, have taken on several Riversdale projects - converting a circa 1935 grocery store into their home and performance space (The HayLoft), and building the first Shift Home – a small, affordable, green home designed for young families on a nearby residential street.
While 20th Street is still considered by many locals as the “least safe” spot in Saskatoon, this is where the big transformation is happening. The Roxy Theatre, the oldest movie house in the city, sat dark for 10 years before it was restored to its 1930 Spanish villa glory and reopened in 2005. It now shows both first run and alternative films, with occasional live performances, including the annual Silence is Golden event featuring silent movies backed by a live performance of the Saskatoon Symphony Orchestra (SSO).
That may be what convinced the SSO to move its offices from “a garret” in the venerable Bessborough Hotel downtown into a 55,000-square-foot storefront on 20th Street last year.
“It’s great, we really enjoy the vibe here,” says SSO marketing director Mike McCoy. “We’ve only been here since June but you can see the difference here, you can literally feel it on the street.”
Nearby, the aka gallery – an artist-run contemporary gallery – shares a large space with PAVED Arts, a non-profit media production and post-production facility and gallery, for digital and electronic artists.

THE NEW HIP HOOD
Across the street sits the Park Café, where west side pioneers Patrick Hearn and Kent Rumpel have been drawing customers from throughout the city for their house-smoked salmon or peameal bacon eggs bennie, Angus beef burgers and other classic diner fare since they opened six years ago. While it was rough in the beginning, Hearn says the street has been cleaned up – “I haven’t called 9-1-1 for two years,” he says.
“As soon as it gets dark, it’s still 20th Street,” Hearn admits, adding they only stay open until 8 p.m. three nights a week. “But it’s changing fast. This is going to be the new hip spot in Saskatoon.”
Randy Pshebylo, head of the Riversdale BID (Business Improvement District) is counting on it. Pshebylo grew up in the ‘hood and watched it slide into the poorest area code in the province. He concedes that Riversdale still has more than its share of cheap rental housing and slum landlords, but the recent transformation is remarkable.
“This hot yoga studio has 1,200 members – and it used to be a peep show,” he says, pointing out new life on every block.
“This place hit rock bottom in the 1990s but what we’re seeing now is the age of the new entrepreneur.”

IF YOU GO:

The Hollows:
Breakfast poutine with housemade bacon lardons or pulled shortrib with heirloom carrots in an historic Chinese restaurant. 334 Ave. C, Saskatoon. thehollows.ca

Saskatoon Farmer’s Market: Local farmer-owned co-op of 140 vendors in new pubic market building in Riversdale. Wednesdays and weekends. 414 Ave. B South

Park Café: Scratch cooking at a rejuvenated Saskatoon diner. 512 20th St. W., 306-652-6781 parkcafe.ca

Jin Jin Cuisine Dumpling: go for the leek buns and mixed veg dumplings but bring a Chinese friend to translate. 416 20th St. W.

Taste Legend: trendy décor and authentic Szechuan food, 423 20th St. W. 306-665-3388

Village Guitar & Amp: one-of-kind instruments for professionals and guitar geeks, house concerts. 432 20th St. W. www.villageguitarandamp.com

The Roxy Theatre: Restored 1930 cinema for first run and art house films and occasional live performances. 320 20th St. W. www.rainbowcinemas.ca

The Two Twenty: Co-working space for freelancers, small businesses, or business travelers in need of a spot to get a computer and a Wi-fi connection. Day pass $15. 220 20 St. W. thetwotwenty.ca

Collective Coffee: hip coffee bar serving serious coffee, 220 20th St. W., collectivecoffee.weebly.com

aka Gallery: artist-run contemporary visual arts gallery and centre 424 20th St. W. www.akagallery.org

PAVED Arts: non-profit facility for media artists, photography, audio, video, electronic and digital arts, production and exhibit space. www.pavedarts.ca

Hot Yoga on 20th: new hot yoga studio, meditation, family yoga. 117 20th St. W., hotyogaon20th.com

Learn more about Riversdale history on their website, www.riversdale.ca, and take a virtual walking tour of the neighborhood, complete with historic photos (www.riversdale.ca/walkingtours)

Dominican REpublic: DISCOVER THE Chocolate Route

Mon, 9 Apr 2012 15:08:04 -0700

FAIRLY SWEET - FAIR TRADE CHOCOLATE

By CINDA CHAVICH

Whether it’s Valentine’s Day or Easter, it’s always a good time to indulge in quality chocolate, and it’s nice to know you can pay it forward at the same time.
In Dominican Republic, the island’s cocoa bean growers are inviting visitors to explore their farms and communities, to learn about where some of the world’s finest organic chocolate is produced, and how the ethical Fair Trade movement has helped improve rural life.
They’ve created a new guided Chocolate Tour that includes stops at family farms, simple village cocoa bean processing facilities and a busy women’s co-operative, to show how cocoa trees grow, how the pods are harvested, and how the beans are fermented and dried before being sent around the world to makers of quality Fair Trade chocolate.
Alanna Crotty meets me at the Grupo Conacado cocoa processing facility in the tiny town of Hato Mayor, about an hour’s drive from the white sand beaches of La Romana. The U.S. Peace Corp volunteer is here to help local farmers develop and promote agri-tourism in rural areas.
“It’s a way to get in touch with producers, and also their children and wives,” she says. “Seventy per cent of what goes into the tours stays in the community. It’s a way for families to diversify their incomes while maintaining their lifestyle and their cacao farms.”

Over a cup of lightly spiced hot chocolate, we learn about the history of CONACADO (the National Confederation of Dominican Cacao Producers), a co-operative that represents 10,000 farmers in seven regions or bloques around the island nation.

Thanks to the Fair Trade social premiums these producers are paid for their organic cocoa beans – about $200 extra per tonne – they’ve provided running water to homes, computers for school kids, and created this new Chocolate Tour that helps farm families earn extra income and connect with their customers.
It’s good to know where your food comes from, and organic chocolate, that’s purchased at a fair price, really does taste sweeter.

THE CHOCOLATE ROUTE:

1. You can hook up with a local tour operator for a fascinating day trip that will take you from the beach resorts of Punta Cana or La Romana, up into the hilly heart of this lush Caribbean country. Guided tours are $30 (US) pp including lunch (excluding transportation) and are booked through the members of CONACADO. http://www.conacado.com.do/site/index.php?lang=en

2. The Chocolate Tour route takes you through small towns and down winding rural roads lined with traditional houses, painted in ice cream colours, where bananas and avocadoes thrive among the forests of cocoa. The cocoa farms are located in the provinces of Vicentillo or Los Botados, and the small family cacao plantations, on the shoulders of Dominican Republic’s interior hills. http://www.tourdechocolate.com/english

3. Guides meet visitors in the towns of Hato Mayor (Vincentillo) or El Seibo (Los Botados) at 9 a.m. at the CONACADO Bloque #3 receiving facilities where farmers deliver their freshly harvested beans, often a few sacks at a time. The fermenting and drying facilities in Hato Mayor serve 2,500 farms. Learn how coca beans are fermented in large wooden boxes, then spread out to dry in poly-covered green houses, and sample a delicious Creole chocolate drink. http://www.tourdechocolate.com/english#!__english/community/vstc2=bloque-3

4. From the town of Hato Mayor, it’s a 20-minute drive north to the cocoa farms - managed, mixed forests where tall cocoa trees, mango and citrus thrive. See how the big orange and purple cocoa pods are harvested by hand, and taste the sweet gooey fruit that goes into other local products. You’ll meet local farm families, visit their homes and enjoy a local snack.

5. The women’s association Esperanzas Unidas has 43 members in the Vicentillo region and their production facility and retail store is the next stop on the tour. The women work together to support their community and make new cacao products. Watch the traditional process of roasting cocoa beans over a fire and grinding them in a mortar and pestle to create rustic drinking chocolate, and see the modern equipment they’ve purchased to create fine chocolate products. Taste their other treats, too – cacao wine, marmalade and buy their “Products of Yabon” here. http://cocoaproductsofyabon.blogspot.com/

6. Finish the Chocolate Tour at an outdoor dining room in El Seibo with lunch of braised beef, fried plantains, salads and sweets, prepared by Martina Garcia and the local women’s group, Amor Y Paz. In El Seibo, they’ve also renovated a traditional Dominican cottage that sleeps 20 travelers hostel style, and are planning additional local tours including hiking and horseback riding. http://www.tourdechocolate.com/english#!__english/more-options

FOR MAPS AND TO RESERVE YOUR TOUR:
http://www.tourdechocolate.com/english

FIVE STEPS FROM COCOA BEAN TO CHOCOLATE BAR

1. In Dominican Republic, cocoa trees grow on farms in managed forests of tropical fruits, on the shoulders of the country’s lush mountains. The large, leathery cocoa pods sprout haphazardly from tiny flowers along the branches of the gangly 30-foot trees.

1. Cocoa farmers like Cristobal (“Lin”) Mejia and his family harvest the pods and remove the seeds (cocoa beans) from the soft, white pulp, then pack them into sacks and carry them to the co-operative’s fermentation and drying facilities. The beans must be transported within hours of harvest, often by mule or by motorcycle.

1. The cocoa beans go into big wooden boxes to ferment for three to seven days. The pulp is fermented away, leaving an acidic aroma in the air and a better quality cocoa bean, the kind that attracts top buyers from companies like the UK’s Green & Blacks, CONACADO’s largest customer.

1. The fermented beans are spread out in drying tunnels – long plastic-sheathed green houses – and raked while they dry. Dried beans are packed into sacks and shipped to top chocolate makers around the world.

1. Green & Black’s produces Fair Trade bars, and sister company Cadbury now also makes all Dairy Milk bars sold in Canada with Fair Trade certified cocoa beans. Ottawa-based Cuisine Camino makes Canada’s top selling organic, Fair Trade chocolate bars, buying from farmers in Dominican Republic and other countries. (www.transfair.ca)

Know that when you buy Certified Fair Trade chocolate (and other products, from coffee and bananas to cotton), the small premium you pay makes a big difference to families in these cocoa producing countries, providing cash to provide running water, computers for kids, and seed money for ongoing enterprises like this new Chocolate Tour for adventurous tourists.

©Cinda Chavich 2012
TasteReport.com

www.tastereport.com

BON TEMPS – THE GREAT GUMBO RUN

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 08:20:41 -0800

Canadian Acadian and American Cajun traditions collide in Louisiana

The word “Cajun” is an anglicized pronunciation of the French “Acadienne”, and even today, rural Louisiana communities are filled with descendants of Acadian Broussards, Lafleurs, Melancons and Cormiers.

By CINDA CHAVICH

(Elton, Louisiana) – The sun has barely risen, yet on this rural Louisiana back road, the party has already begun.
A collection of masked men in colorful, ragged costumes is gathering, clowning behind pick-up trucks, drinking beer and dancing to an accordion player’s traditional tunes.

Behind the bizarre disguises, created from scraps of cloth, paint and bits of leftover window screen, are a motley crew of locals – students, crawfish and rice farmers, musicians, teachers and workers from the local chemical plant. But today they are all Cajuns, members of the Elton Courier de Mardi Gras or chicken run, celebrating their rural French roots with an annual romp down the local back roads to entertain their neighbours and gather the ingredients for tonight’s community gumbo feast.
Courier de Mardi Gras events like this are held throughout the Cajun communities of southwestern Louisiana in the weeks leading up to Mardi Gras or Fat Tuesday, the day before the Catholic season of Lent. While urban centres like New Orleans celebrate with lavish costume balls and raunchy parades, these small town Cajun Mardi Gras parties are considerably less formal, a reflection of the traditionally poor farming and fishing families who have long populated these marshy bayous.

The annual rural chicken run – combing the countryside for chickens, sausages, rice and vegetables for a communal pot of Cajun stew or “gumbo” – is a tradition that goes back more than 100 years. The runners dress in raggedy costumes, hidden behind homemade masks they arrive to “beg” their neighbours for food, paying with music, playful tricks, dancing and humorous antics. It’s oddly reminiscent of Canadian Maritime rituals, from Twelfth Night mummers to the Mi-Careme (half-Lent) visits still seen in small Acadian communities from Cape Breton to Caraquet and Iles-de-la- Madeleine, and unique to the Cajun (Acadian) culture here.

Jon Bertrand, a member of the Grammy-nominated, Cajun roots band the Pine Leaf Boys, joins his father David in a squeeze box serenade, while dozens of his boyhood friends two-step to the beat. After stopping briefly for a prayer, a stern warning from the local police constable and a tongue-in-cheek reading of the rules of deportment, they climb aboard horses and flatbed trailers, then head down the road to their first chicken-chasing stop.
Around the first bend, Maxine Guthrey and her family is waiting with a couple of live chickens and a cooler full of homemade, Cajun-style boudin sausage, when the dozens of the costumed Mardi Gras come racing down the road.
“I’m very proud of my Cajun heritage,” says Guthrey who can trace her ancestry to the French Acadians who settled here on the Gulf shore after they were driven out of Nova Scotia by British troops in 1755. The word “Cajun” is an anglicized pronunciation of the French “Acadienne”, and
even today, rural Louisiana communities are filled with descendants of Acadian Broussards, Lafleurs, Melancons and Cormiers.
There are only three people here to receive the dozens of masked revellers today, but Guthrey remembers a time when 100 relatives would gather on the family farm for the annual Courier de Mardi Gras.
“Every year it’s a little less,” she says, “because the kids are gone and only people my age, in their 50s, remember the grandparents and the old Mardi Gras.”

After the sausage is shared, and a few Cajun tunes are played, the chickens are tossed skyward and the young men race off chasing them through the muddy ditches and marshy woods, swooping across the Cajun prairie like a flock of multi-colored birds. It’s a scene that’s repeated throughout the day, the Mardi Gras crawling on hands and knees, begging for coins, chasing chickens and playing silly tricks.
Some don women’s wigs and skirts, while the “Capitaine” – the leader of the group – wears a cape and cowboy hat, and carries a braided burlap whip to keep his charges in check.
The ritual is part pagan, part frat party - reminiscent of a rowdy Hallowe’en trick-or-treat, or a visit by Maritime mummers. Like other Mardi Gras celebrations, the mood is definitely irreverent, mocking the Catholic church with pointed, bishop-like hats and sexual innuendo, fuelled with plenty of beer, cases of it stacked on flatbed trailers.
“Y’all have fun but no fightin’,” says the officer who follows the run in his police car, “and if I ask you to leave, and you don’t leave, we gotta place for ya.”

While it’s not a formal spectator sport – the route is pre-ordained but not published, and only locals can actually participate in the “run” – families gather at gas stations and busy country corners to watch the Mardi Gras pass. With masked riders arriving at your door playing tricks and demanding food, there’s a fine line between beggar and bandit, but the coercion is all in fun.
These rowdy “runs” take place throughout the region in the month leading up to Fat Tuesday (Feb. 16 this year).
“Though they may be only 10 miles apart, each community’s Mardi Gras is completely different,” explains David Bertrand, a local rice farmer and organizer of today’s Elton Chicken Run. “It’s still a means of our small community’s survival – it keeps our social identity.”
But it’s been difficult to keep the Cajun traditions, and the small communities alive. Many, like Elton, have less than 1,500 inhabitants, and an aging population.

During World War II, the chicken run tradition died out here in Louisiana. Like the French language – which was once banned in local schools – many Cajun cultural traditions were on the brink of collapse. But in the last 25 years, the rural Cajun culture has bounced back, thanks to a resurgence in French Cajun music by groups like Bertrand’s and academics dedicated to preserving the past.
“Parts of the culture will definitely survive because it’s entertaining,” says Jean Ancelet, who’s father Barry, a University of Louisiana French professor and folklorist, documented the unique culture of the region, including events like the chicken run, in his book, Cajun Country.
Ancelet studied French at the Université Sainte-Anne in Nova Scotia – a fully Acadian university - and says the fact that so few young people still speak Cajun French in rural Louisiana puts a strain on cultural traditions. A shift from bayou-based fishing and small-scale agriculture to jobs in offshore oil and gas plants also take their toll.
“It’s not very easy to stay in a small town if your grandparents were farmers and now it’s all big agri-business,” says Ancelet. “You don’t have to be a shrimper to be a Cajun, but from language flows culture.”

Still, rural areas like this remain uniquely Cajun, and an authentic, family-friendly place to celebrate the Mardi Gras season. Parades are for kids – there’s no breast baring drunken debauchery – and when the Lake Charles civic centre hosts the glittery Royal Gala promenade of 50 local krewes’ in elaborate costumes on Mardi Gras eve, the whole town comes out to cheer. In between there are community gumbo cookoffs and Cajun squeeze box (accordion) contests that draw both kids and seniors to the stage.
Annual chicken runs now take place in tiny towns like Elton, Basile, Iowa, Vinton, Hathaway, and Tee-Mamou – where the all-male tradition has been augmented by an all-female run. Some towns have co-ed runs or runs for children, and each has its own unique costume style and traditional songs.
It’s a unique corner of the American south, a bit of true French quarter that owes its special culture the Acadian Canadian refugees who settled here more than 250 years ago.
“You have to adapt the culture to keep it,” says Bertrand tuning his guitar for the next crazy stop along the route. “It’s a real good homecoming, too – and there’s a gumbo waiting for us when we get there.”

IF YOU GO:
Fly WestJet to New Orleans and drive into Cajun country (or connect into Lake Charles Regional Airport on regional carries), then head south into Cajun country on Interstate 10, for the rural Cajun experience. Stop at the tourist information centre in Jennings – set in a restored 18th-century Acadian cottage– for details about the small town Mardi Gras chicken runs, parades, gumbo cookoffs and Cajun music in the region (Jeff Davis Parish Tourist Commission – 1-800-264-5521) Or visit the Southwest Louisiana Mardi Gras site at www.swlamardigras.com (1-800-456-7952)

CAJUN CUISINE:
For a traditional Cajun feast – including thick seafood gumbo, local oysters and crispy fried alligator – stop at Cajun Tales in Welsh, with the popular Maison Rouge gift shop next door (337-734-4722)
Nott’s Corner in Lake Arthur offers plate lunches and boiled peel-and-eat crawfish or crawfish pies and étouffée (337-774-3334), or head to Steamboat Bills in Lake Charles (337-494-1070), and other “boiling points” for crawfish to go.

ACADIAN ROOTS:
Visit the Acadian Museum in Erath (337-658-7329), with its history of the Acadian deportment from Nova Scotia, Saturday afternoon Cajun jam sessions and free traditional Cajun suppers with local Acadians on Monday nights.

This story was first published online at www.Zenchilada.com

©Cinda Chavich 2012
www.tastereport.com

Native tradition meets four-star luxury in Quebec

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 08:45:49 -0800

HURON-WENDAT MUSEUM AND HOTEL

By CINDA CHAVICH

WENDAKE, QUE.— From Thursday's Globe and Mail
Published Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2012 3:31PM EST
Last updated Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012 3:01PM EST

Hunting and foraging for indigenous ingredients – even flavouring and complementing wild game with plants that grow in their environment – is de rigueur for hyper-local chefs and food lovers.
But for the Huron-Wendat Nation in Wendake, Que., cooking with the bounty of the Earth comes naturally. And that's just part of the experience at the Hôtel-Musée Premières Nations, a four-star, sleek boutique lodging 15 minutes from the heart of Quebec City that celebrates indigenous connections, from the rooms artfully decorated with fox and beaver pelts, to the subtle flavours of wild herbs from the boreal forest on the plate.
Here, where the Huron-Wendat Nation has built its architecturally stunning longhouse hotel and museum complex, there are permanent displays detailing the nation's history. But learning about the Wendat culture is not a passive experience: Beyond the permanent artifacts, this interactive museum is a gateway to the community. Guests can join the daily Labrador tea ceremony in the hotel lobby, learn to make bannock or strap on snowshoes to track a caribou.
HURON CULTURE: LEARN TO MAKE BANNOCK
On our first night, we get the full Huron cultural immersion with Diane Andicha (Moon) Picard, resplendent in her white buckskin dress, as she explains the finer points of making bannock. We gather around a smoky campfire on the hotel terrace, listening to the rushing Akiawenrahk (Saint-Charles) River and admiring the silvery birches silhouetted against the dark sky as she kneads a batch of dough. The Wendat traditional bread was made with corn flour and water, she says, then “placed in Mother Earth” to rest and rise before being formed into a thick round for cooking on a hot stone in the firepit.
“Now we use flour and water, with a bit of corn oil and the magic powder,” she says, shaking a small jar of baking powder. Strips of the soft dough are wound around the tips of green saplings and we toast them over the glowing coals in the firepit before moving into the modern La Traite restaurant for chef Martin Gagné's creative take on traditional native cuisine.

CONTEMPORARY NATIVE CUISINE
Inside, we indulge in chunks of sweet smoked salmon candy on a creamy sauce infused with wild glasswort. We devour elk tartare with resinous fir jelly and crispy salsify chips (made from a root vegetable). We're amazed by the intense flavours of tiny squab breast glazed in dark and spicy birch syrup with wild cattails and licorice-scented fennel. The menu reflects the Huron traditions of hunting and foraging in the boreal forest, fishing and planting the “Three Sisters” crops of corn, beans and squash. And chef
Gagné complements his main ingredients with dried wild plants such as peppery green alder (dune pepper), wild currant leaves and powdered wintergreen from d'Origina, a Quebec company that specializes in collecting boreal spices and tea in the province.

HURON-WENDAT FIRST NATION’S HISTORY
Sated, we finish the evening sipping minty Labrador tea, watching a young dancer whirl in fringed buckskin and shake her rattle in a powerful traditional dance honouring women and mothers while Diane sings and pounds a large drum.
Although the Huron-Wendat Nation once had close to 40,000 members, they were nearly annihilated by disease and war before 150 individuals relocated from Ontario (near Georgian Bay) to this corner of Quebec in 1697. In 1760, the Wendat signed a treaty with the British colonial rulers to protect their rights. Much of their land was expropriated over the next 200 years, but in 1990 a Supreme Court of Canada ruling recognized the 1760 treaty, paving the way for new developments like the hotel. The 3,500-member nation is working to revive its language and culture, while welcoming visitors to the community – offering tours and theatrical performances, even a Wendake Tourism iPhone app.

CHIC HURON HOTEL
The experience at the 55-room band-owned boutique hotel is contemporary with a traditional aboriginal twist. Don't be shocked by the soft fox pelt draped over a chair in the simple but stylish rooms (each overlooking the river and with free Wi-Fi and Keurig coffee makers), or the fat furry cushion, made from a whole beaver, tossed on the Hudson's Bay Company blanket on every bed. A tangle of caribou antlers provides a touch of naturalistic art above the bar.

The lobby of the hotel, modelled after a traditional longhouse, has a long, log-studded front desk where young aboriginal employees greet visitors.
The hotel is a chance to learn about Huron-Wendat traditions, history and lifestyle in a state-of-the-art setting. And even if you don't find a caribou on your trek through the woods, tucking into a plate of red deer osso bucco perfumed with bog myrtle or a seal rillette gives you a unique taste of this nation's culture.
If you go
The hotel
The Wendake Hôtel-Musée Premières Nations is a four-star boutique hotel starting at $144 a night. 5, Place de la Recontre, 1-866-551-9222; hotelpremieresnations.com; tourismewendake.com
What to see
The Musée Huron-Wendat offers tours of the community, including Kabir Kouba Falls gushing into its 42-metre canyon and the historic Notre-Dame-de-Lorette church built in 1730 and reconstructed in 1862 after a fire destroyed the original chapel. The museum is open Wednesday through Sunday in winter. museehuronwendat.ca
Tsawenhohi House, built for Grand Chief Nicolas Tsawenhohi in 1820 in Old Wendake, is a Huron-Wendat Heritage Site. Visit the gallery and see traditional Huron crafts demonstrations. Located in the centre of Old Wendake.
Learn the culture
Also on the reserve is Onhoua Chetek8e, a reconstructed Huron traditional village and living museum, where costumed interpreters guide you through a traditional longhouse and smokehouse, with dances, legends and other re-creations of traditional life. In the Nek8arre restaurant, traditional foods, from venison and caribou to trout, are on the Huron menu, and Le Huron boutique features a variety of aboriginal arts and crafts. Open daily, year-round, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. A two-hour guided tour is $12 for adults. 575 Stanislas Koksa, Wendake; huron-wendat.qc.ca
Special to The Globe and Mail

©Cinda Chavich 2012
www.tastereport.com

MEXICO: TASTY TRAVELS IN CEVICHE-VILLE

Fri, 6 Jan 2012 08:28:27 -0800

By CINDA CHAVICH

SAN BLAS, MEXICO— From Thursday's Globe and Mail
Published Wednesday, Jan. 04, 2012 4:29PM EST
Last updated Wednesday, Jan. 04, 2012 6:34PM EST

Sitting under a shady thatched roof in an open-air restaurant on a wide beach, I’m enjoying a study in ceviche. A Mexican specialty of raw fish “cooked” in lime juice and served with green chilies and tender corn tortillas for wrapping, it’s the sushi of the south – a light snack that’s a refreshing antidote to the tropical heat. And here in San Blas, a traditional fishing village on Mexico’s wild Pacific coast, the ceviche comes in many guises.
We start with the finely chopped local grouper, combined with bits of minced onion, jalapenos and tomatoes. It comes topped with guacamole to scoop up with crisp tortilla chips. Then there’s the local specialty, aguachile, a ceviche made with delicious local shrimp marinated in sweet lime juice with spicy green tomatillo salsa and cooling chunks of cucumber, a particularly winsome combination of hot and cold.
SAN BLAS: A MEXICAN FISHING VILLAGE
San Blas, a two-hour drive north of the busy tourist hub of Puerto Vallarta, is a historic seaport, dating to the 1700s. Cathedrals and counting houses, built by the Spanish, are now just crumbling stone shells still surrounded by cannons on the high cliffs. But for the last 150 years, fishing has been the lifeblood of San Blas – local fishermen still supply the shrimp, mahi-mahi and tuna served in restaurants and resorts from Mazatlan to Acapulco. We actually smell the smoky mangrove fires of street-side fish vendors before we see them as we drive into town.
Fresh fish is sold in street markets and the popular grilled-fish dish, pescado zarandeado, is on the menu everywhere. Perch on a stool at a portable kiosk in the historic plaza, head to a fine hotel restaurant, or come to one of the many beaches that skirt the bay (where river estuaries thick with mangroves empty into the sea), and you’ll be served incredible fish.
FISH SELLERS ON THE BEACH

Las Islitas is just one of the many wide sandy beaches lined with outdoor, thatched roof restaurants. At Mysis 3, a spot at the end of the road, Pedro Garcia is busy seasoning a large snapper to lay across his makeshift grill. Basted with a spicy, garlicky butter flavoured with citrus and achiote paste, the zarandeado comes to the table garnished with sliced onions, tomatoes and oranges, smoky and juicy and ready to wrap in tortillas with a splash of Salsa Huichol hot sauce.
It’s a seafood feast that starts with his crispy fish chicharrones – deep-fried strips of battered fish that mimic the usual crunchy pork cracklings (or pork rind) – and shrimp ceviche on tostadas. Perfect with an icy, long-necked Pacifico beer.
The scene is repeated throughout our stay in San Blas. Whether walking the streets around the historic square or exploring the wide beaches, there’s always a place for a little ceviche snack and a fresh fruit juice or agua fresca.

MEXICAN CEVICHE AT HOTEL GARZA CANELA
At Hotel Garza Canela, the comfortable hotel run by chef Betty Vazquez and her siblings, the elegant Restaurant El Delfin serves intriguing guava and chili martinis and fine wines with an upscale menu. We especially enjoyed fish ceviche with oregano and serrano, and marinated shrimp with the fruity local guajillo chilies and orange sauce.
Ms. Vazquez says there’s an ongoing debate about the origins of ceviche – Peruvians say they were the first to cook seafood in acidic citrus juices, but Mexicans “have a unique way with fresh fish and seafood” – adding cilantro, cucumber and avocado to the traditional combination of raw seafood, onions, chilies and lime or bitter orange juice.

FAMED SAN BLAS FRESHWATER SHRIMP
But it’s also the sweet freshwater shrimp found near San Blas than make the aguachile such a special treat.
La Cevicheria, a popular family-style restaurant in the capital of Tepic, is devoted to ceviche and the San Blas shrimp. The menu ranges from shrimp soup and shrimp pâté to tuna sashimi to tostadas topped with ceviche of snapper, smoked marlin, scallops and tuna. There’s ceviche mixto verde of scallops and shrimp mixed with shredded apple and red onion, ceviche acapulqueno chopped small and mixed with tomato ketchup, and the local aguachile de camaron, with shrimp, serrano chiles, lime, avocado, cucumber and red onion.

Along with fish and seafood, corn is produced in the area, so fish tacos, gorditas with crispy pork carnitas, and a traditional shrimp soup thickened with corn flour are also on most menus. You’ll even find delicious corn ice cream and street vendors selling the traditional fermented corn drink, tejuino.
FROM SAN BLAS TO NUEVO VALLARTA: THE RIVIERA NAYARIT
It’s a two-hour drive from San Blas to Nuevo Vallarta and we stay overnight at elegant Villa La Estancia, where chef Eugenio Villafana works wonders with raw food and has seven kinds of ceviche on the menu.

En route to the airport, there’s just time for a final ceviche fish and we spot La Cevicheria’s big shrimp statue next to a supermarket parking lot and veer off the highway. Like the main restaurant in Tepic, the menu is vast and we order a variety of different fish and shrimp ceviche with big glasses of cold beer.

The cured shrimp in the aguachile are as crisp and sweet as the cucumber, and the perfect foil to the burn of green chilies. We linger over each plateful, savouring the fresh flavours that will forever remind us of Mexico’s Riviera Nayarit.

STAY, AND EAT
Hotel Garza Canela, San Blas: Run by chef Betty Vazquez and her siblings, this boutique hotel has a fine restaurant – easily the best in town. Garden suites, pool, great gift shop with works by local artisans, and connections with guides for birding expeditions. From $76 (U.S.). garzacanela.com
Casa Roxanna Bungalows, San Blas: Clean bargain bungalows, with pool and air conditioning. From $55 (U.S.). casaroxanna.com
Villa la Estancia, Nuevo Vallarta: Posh time shares along this new strip of hotels and condos – and young chef Eugenio Villafana who offers cooking classes and a very creative ($80) six-course menu. 1-888-844-8169. villagroupresorts.com
La Cevicheria: A fun family-style spot for shrimp, fish and ceviche of every kind. lacevicheria.com.mx
Special to The Globe and Mail

©Cinda Chavich 2012
www.tastereport.com

Banff’s Schwarz brothers WIN hotelier of the year

Thu, 29 Dec 2011 10:03:58 -0800

Dynamic Duo: Schwarz Brothers of Post Hotel as Pinnacles 2011 Hoteliers of the Year
George and André Schwarz, owners of Post Hotel in Lake Louise, are redefining rustic luxury
by Cinda Chavich
in Hotelier Magazine

Turning off the Trans Canada highway, toward the famous turquoise waters of Lake Louise, you may not notice the collection of amber log buildings that comprise the posh Post Hotel. Nestled alongside the Pipestone River, it’s a little hideaway in the Bow Valley — not as flashy as the historic Chateau at the top of the mountain — but away from the busloads of tourists who come to view the glaciers and rugged peaks of Banff National Park.
With its Ralph Lauren good looks and understated outdoorsy panache, The Post is the bricks-and-mortar embodiment of its longtime owners. Over the past 32 years, the personable Schwarz brothers, a couple of ski instructors from Zurich, made the resort one of the country’s most celebrated getaways, literally defining rustic luxury in the Canadian Rockies in their own energetic and tasteful image.
“We were ski bums”
“We were ski bums,” George Schwarz chuckles, describing the long partnership with his brother André that began when they arrived to teach at the nearby Lake Louise ski school in the early 1970s. “We’re lucky that we get along, and we were lucky in other ways, too.” But it’s more than luck that turns an old log lodge and motel into a world-class property that routinely hits the top of the ‘best of ’ lists of Condé Nast Traveler and Travel & Leisure magazines.
The Post Hotel is one of those rare anomalies in the hotel business, an independent small hotel with the appeal of a big-city property.
Luxuriously secluded, it’s the kind of lodge well-heeled outdoorsy types and celebrity skiers crave and name as their favourite ski hotel in North America. And it has the chops to host a yearly international wine summit, attracting the world’s top winemakers, and their wealthy oenophile patrons, for a wine and food weekend.
And it’s all thanks to the Schwarz brothers who set the bar high for hospitality and service, never compromising their European sensibilities and quest for quality.
“I travel with my wealthy guests and stay in the best hotels in the world, and many are regular customers at the Post,” says Peter Blattmann, former Food and Beverage manager at the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel, who now leads gourmet travelers through wine regions of the world. “What they most appreciate is George and André’s personal attention. They keep records of every repeat customer and their favourite wines or special dishes — you cannot find this in any other hotel.”
“When we bought the hotel, we instantly became hoteliers, André quit the ski hill, I sold my restaurant, and we started running the hotel”
It’s hard to imagine when George and André purchased The Post Hotel in 1978, only four of the 14 rooms had bathtubs, the average room rate was $22, and “foodservice” was provided by a coffee shop. Indeed, the historic property, built in 1942 by local guide Jim Boyce, was little more than a rustic chalet, known as the Lake Louise Ski Lodge, a real everyman’s answer to the luxurious Chateau Lake Louise just up the road. In 1947, British sportsman Sir Norman Watson purchased the lodge.
Set in the heart of the village of Lake Louise — still little more than a former passenger rail stop with a few shops — The Post Hotel was perfectly positioned to host those early skiers. Watson returned to Britain and hired operators to run his Canadian hotel until 1978 when he sold it to the Schwarzs, in part because they shared his commitment to ski tourism in the Canadian Rockies.
Surprisingly, the brothers had no formal training or experience in hotels when they took over the business. André ran the ski school at the Lake Louise ski hill and George, also a ski instructor, worked in Banff restaurants, eventually opening his own Swiss-Italian restaurant, Ticino. “When we bought the hotel, we instantly became hoteliers,” he says. “André quit the ski hill, I sold my restaurant, and we started running the hotel.”
Over the years, thanks to timely investments and partnerships, the brothers have grown their modest acquisition into an impressive destination resort, becoming leaders in the local tourism industry and raising the bar for both food and lodging in the Rockies. In 1987, they replaced the old motel with a new main building, expanded the restaurant into the historic lodge and re-opened with 100 rooms in time for the 1988 Winter Olympics. A partnership with Husky Oil helped fund the first expansion, and later, when Husky was sold to Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing, he became their partner. “Mr. Li has been here a few times,” says Schwarz. “It’s one of the special investments he cherishes.”
The wine cellar, showcases more than 25,000 bottles and has garnered Wine Spectator’s Grand Award for eight consecutive years.

Today the Post Hotel is among a handful of Relais & Châteaux properties in Western Canada (others include Tofino’s Wickaninnish Inn and Vancouver’s Wedgewood Hotel), boasting a guarantee of “character, calm, charm, courtesy and cuisine,” with a restaurant Gourmet magazine once deemed the best in Canada. Blattmann says it’s the brothers’ European style, focused on customer service and small details that makes the hotel special.
There are now 94 suites — from the most basic room with two single beds for $250 a night in low season, to the two-bedroom loft suite, which fetches $700 per night. The luxurious Pipestone Cabin sleeps four for $1,400 and the private 3,000-square-foot Watson House, rents for $3,000 a night.
The wine cellar, showcasing more than 25,000 bottles, has garnered Wine Spectator’s Grand Award for eight consecutive years. It’s celebrated as one of the finest in the country, and there is a 3,200-square-foot Temple Mountain Spa that pampers the rich and famous with après-ski swims, steam massages and beauty treatments.
How did it start?
But it all started with George’s true passion, food and wine. Active in the Banff restaurant scene, he opened Le Beaujolais in 1980, followed by Giorgio’s in 1982. He hired top chefs for the Post Hotel kitchen and the accolades started pouring in, thanks to the cuisine of Wolfgang Vogt, Kenneth Titcomb and Swiss-trained Hans Sauter — only the fourth executive chef in more than 30 years.
In short order, the hotel has become a culinary destination. The dining room is rustic but the service is impeccable. The menu runs from fresh grainy breads and its famous Swiss mountain muesli to multi-course tasting menus featuring squab, salmon, venison, bison and, of course, Alberta beef.
Still, George points to his longtime staff for the boutique hotel’s true success, the people who provide the kind of small personal touches that make the experience special.
A waiter offers to organize a picnic lunch for a guest heading off for a day to explore the Icefields Parkway (a visual feast but culinary desert); a bride can’t find the perfect rustic cupcake stand for her dessert table so the chef constructs one himself. “We’re very lucky, we have a great staff,” says George, noting manager, Geoffrey Booth, has been with them since 1986, and there are waiters, maintenance staff and others with more than 20 years.
That’s quite the feat in the national park, where attracting and retaining quality staff is notoriously tough. The Schwarzs have done it by investing in their employees, training young apprentices and new immigrants and providing some of the best staff housing. “We have great staff accommodations.
The duo have sponsored Vietnamese refugees, trained apprentice chefs from Calgary’s Southern Alberta Institute of Technology and organized exchange programs with properties in Switzerland for young cooks.

We’ve invested $7 million over the years with housing for everyone from entry-level people to families,” says George. The duo have sponsored Vietnamese refugees, trained apprentice chefs from Calgary’s Southern Alberta Institute of Technology and organized exchange programs with properties in Switzerland for young cooks.
“We enjoy teaching young people in the kitchen,” says George. “We work with a lot of people with temporary visas, people from Europe who want to apprentice in the hotel. We attract wonderful young people with knowledge and experience.”
And, the cream of the crop makes it to their door. While Will and Kate flew into nearby Skoki Lodge (another of Sir Norman Watson’s original properties) on the Alberta leg of their Canadian honeymoon, Prince Edward has stayed in the Watson House and undoubtedly there have been others. (Though, like good hoteliers, the owners are discreet.)
Always community-minded, the Schwarzs donate thousands in cash and in kind to charities, from the Banff Mineral Springs Hospital to the local Rotary Club. But their pet project is the Kids’ Cancer Care Foundation of Alberta where funds raised at the silent auction at their annual Wine Summit — $370,000 to date — are destined each year. “My wife and I went to see the camp this summer to present the cheque, and it was incredible,” says George. “They host up to 100 kids each week. It’s a class act.”

This feature was published in the Dec. 2011 edition of Hotelier Magazine

©Cinda Chavich 2011
www.tastereport.com

Beyond the Grand Canyon: Arizona’s awesome rocks

Wed, 14 Dec 2011 09:05:36 -0800

by Cinda Chavich
PAGE, ARIZ.— From Thursday's Globe and Mail
Published Wednesday, Sep. 28, 2011 3:42PM EDT

Any road trip through Arizona requires a visit to the great gulch – a stop at the south rim of the Grand Canyon to gawk at the incredible width, depth, breadth and well, grandness of it all.
But any lover of radical rock formations will find many hidden gems beyond this natural wonder. The kicks just off nostalgic Route 66 are definitely worth the detours – buttes, mesas, arches and a rainbow of ever-changing colours.
Head north, through the Navajo and Hopi Nation lands, into Lake Powell and then down the Colorado River, to get some unexpected views of the region’s spectacular red rocks.
Make sure you’re packing lots of food and water, and a shovel in case you get stuck in the sand, and rock on!
A GRAND GAZE
Start in Grand Canyon National Park (nps.gov/grca) on the south rim. Even if you don’t take the time to hike a mile down to the canyon floor along Bright Angel or Hermit Trail – or ride one of the mules stabled at the top – gazing across the 16-kilometre-wide chasm as the setting sun turns the rocks from red and orange to mauve and fuchsia is a wonder that many have tried to capture in photos and art, but must be experienced.
A prime spot for a sunset cocktail is the private balcony of the Mary Coulter Suite in the historic El Tovar Hotel. (Paul McCartney stayed here for two nights in 2001, but as hotel sales manager Bruce Brossman recalls, when the former Beatle began playing the piano in the mezzanine, other guests complained about the noise and, to protect his cover, employees had to ask him to “please stop.”)Arrive by road or take the Grand Canyon Railway (thetrain.com) along the 1901 Santa Fe rail line from the funky town of Williams, Ariz., (williamschamber.com), complete with “gun” fights and cowboy crooners on board.
MOVIE LAND
To leave the national park, head to the east entrance along the East Rim Road, and stop at the stunning Lipan lookout (guides point out that this is where Thelma and Louise tried to fly a convertible in the 1991 movie). Highway 64 takes you back to Highway 89, north of Flagstaff, where you can continue on into the Painted Desert, past Little Colorado Canyon (the inspiration for Wile E. Coyote’s grand descents), to the shared Navajo and Hopi community of Tuba City and Moenkopi.
About 80 kilometres northeast of Tuba City, you’ll find the remote Navajo village of Shonto (translated it means “sunshine springs”). Tucked in a green valley in its own red-rock canyon, there’s an original sandstone trading post where Al Grieve still buys and sells local Navajo split sumac baskets, rugs and turquoise jewellery and you can stay in the guest cabin or “hogan” where, Mr. Grieve says, John Wayne, John Ford and John D. Rockefeller all slept. The rustic eight-sided traditional structure, with its intricately woven domed log roof and low stone walls, is the last of the tourist cabins erected here in the 1930s. Mr. Grieve says he still offers it to overnight guests. navajo-arts.com, 928-672-2320

HOMES AND NATIVE LANDS
The Navajo lands and Hopi lands of northern Arizona are intermingled – Hopi communities are found high on the tops of mesas in the midst of the massive Navajo reservation.

In Tuba City and neighbouring Moenkopi, the land on the right side of Highway 87 is Navajo, the land on the left, including the new Moenkopi Legacy Inn & Suites, is Hopi. From here, it’s 64 kilometres east to Third Messa, the nearest Hopi villages. Hopi guides such as Evelyn Fredericks will take you into historic Hopi villages and down back roads to see some stunning scenery – from the red and bleached white formations streaked with black layers of coal in Coal Mine Canyon, to the remains of a stone school and the intricate mushroom-like hoodoos of Blue Canyon in Moenkopi Wash. As you head north into the high desert – the altitude about 1,830 metres above Phoenix – and into the Colorado Plateau, there are mountains (remnants of volcanoes) and exposed layers of limestone among the red sandstone carved by time into painted peaks.
While you can visit native communities on your own, certified guides have special knowledge of the area. With venomous snakes, dust storms and flash floods, this desert region can be dangerous if you’re not prepared. You might even have to dig your way out of a sand trap. “As nice as it is today, it’s a very harsh country,” Ms. Fredericks says as we bump along a tooth-rattling washboard road. “Always have a full tank of gas – and take a blanket, a gallon of water and a shovel.” experiencehopi.com
SPECTACULAR GLEN CANYON
A float along the Colorado River below the Glen Canyon Dam near Page, Ariz., (nps.gov/glca) is both serene and striking. The national recreational area – about 130 kilometres north of Tuba City – offers a new view around every bend. Once you forget about the massive wall of concrete (about 4.9 million cubic yards of poured concrete) that holds back the waters of Lake Powell, you can’t beat a sunny day down here on the flat water in Glen Canyon.

The red Navajo Sandstone cliffs rise up 457 metres above the calm, clear river, and the smooth red-stone walls, blackened with magnesium oxide “desert varnish,” make a perfect canvas for the petroglyphs, drawings left by ancestral Puebloans more than 800 years ago.
Fishermen can float this 24 kilometre stretch between the dam and Lee’s Ferry boat launch for trophy trout, while condors float in the updrafts and canyon wrens flit among the rocks. But if you want to really get away from it all, for $25, guide Gary Damron will ferry you, your kayak and camping gear up to one of the rustic riverside campsites – free wilderness accommodation that is completely off the tourist track. Or just take his $60 half-day tour – perhaps the most jaw-dropping view you’ll get of Arizona’s red rocks. raftthecanyon.com

HORSESHOE BEND

Also in the Glen Canyon recreational area is Horseshoe Bend, site of an oft-photographed 270-degree bend in the Colorado River. Stop on Route 89 (just south of Page and highway marker 545) at the parking lot for the Horseshoe Bend hiking trail. Take the 2.4-kilometre walk up to the windy rim of the canyon for this completely different way to see the red rocks. At sunset, the short hike across the desert is as colourful as the perfectly symmetrical view of this famous sandstone escarpment, almost entirely encircled by the shining, blue-green waters of the meandering river. Limestone or calcite has cemented the layers of Navajo sandstone here and the rocks near the sheer edge are covered in Moqui marbles, little spheres of iron – so step carefully.
FLOAT YOUR BOAT ON LAKE POWELL
Explorer John Wesley Powell was the first to find Glen Canyon a “pure delight,” and now the lake that bears his name delights a modern generation of tourists who visit its 96 sculptured sandstone canyons and more than 3,000 kilometres of shoreline via modern houseboats. Not only is it the most comfortable way to explore the many channels and side canyons, you can travel all the way to Rainbow Bridge, the world’s largest natural rock bridge, and one of more than 80 natural rock arches in the area. Rainbow Bridge is a sacred site for local first nations and a national monument – you’ll find a park ranger there who knows absolutely everything about this most impressive formation. nps.gov/rabr; pagelakepowelltourism.com

ANTELOPE CANYON
Back in Page, hook up with a Navajo guide and explore the magical Antelope Canyon – cool caverns washed into the desert landscape by spring flood waters and sculpted by sandy storms. A dusty drive in the back of an open 4-by-4 takes you to the entrance of these famed slot canyons, where sunlight pours through openings to the sky like tractor beams and the dramatically carved surfaces turn from orange and gold to magenta in the ever-changing light. You must have a guide for this tour – flash floods in these deep desert canyons still occur. In 2006, floods closed the Tribal Park for five months and in 1997, 11 tourists were killed by a flood. A one-hour guided tour is $25, or take the $40 two-hour photo tour – best between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. – to capture the famous interplay between light and mineral. Bring a tripod. antelopecanyon.com; navajonationparks.org

IF YOU GO
Where to eat: The 1905 El Tovar Hotel on the rim of the Grand Canyon has the finest dining room in the park and features dishes with an aboriginal twist. Try the prickly pear chicken with jalapeno jack cheese or Navajo taco, beef or vegetarian chili atop a big piece of fry bread with lots of fixings. Open for breakfast, lunch and dinner. 928-638-2631; grandcanyonlodges.com

At the Tuuvi Café, across the highway from the Moenkopi Inn, they serve American and Hopi meals – hamburgers served on fry bread, Tuuvi taco with beans, or hominy stew with roasted green chilies. 928-283-4374

In Williams, Ariz., – the gateway to the Grand Canyon – you'll find the tallest homemade cream pies ever at Pine Country Restaurant. 107 N Grand Canyon Blvd., pinecountryrestaurant.com

Where to sleep: In Tuba City, stay at the new Moenkopi Legacy Inn & Suites, the first hotel to be built on Hopi tribal land in 50 years. With authentic native art throughout the hotel and evening talks with local elders, it's a way to connect with the Hopi culture. 928-283-4500; experiencehopi.com
In Williams, the Grand Canyon Hotel (built in 1891, it's the oldest hotel in Arizona) has rooms with private bath that start at $70. 928-635-1419; thegrandcanyonhotel.com.
On Lake Powell, rent a posh houseboat and explore with a bunch of your friends. The 75-foot Excursion houseboat with 2,400 square feet of cabin space, an upper deck, a flat-screen TV with tracking satellite, a hot tub and a fireplace, starts at $6,750 (U.S.) for four days. lakepowell.com
Special to The Globe and Mail

©Cinda Chavich 2011
www.tastereport.com

PACIFIC SANDS: IT’S STORM WATCHING SEASON

Tue, 13 Dec 2011 21:49:54 -0800

Photos really don’t do justice to this wonderful hotel on Cox Beach outside Tofino. These three-level suites are superbly designed and decorated with locally-made west coast furniture and walls of windows to take in the views of pounding spring surf. We picked up some live Dungeness crab to steam and sucked out every morsel while sipping Sauvignon Blanc and watching the sun slip behind a rocky island. There’s a fireplace, a big kingsize bed and a bigger soaker tub in the top level master suite - but it’s the crashing waves that lull you, a rhythmic white noise that shuts out all else. A kind of natural privacy screen. Serenity by surf. Down on the beach you can walk for miles, admire the daring surfers, see kids and dogs playing, poke around for shells and beach glass, breath in the fresh salt air. It’s my happy place - a place I will return to again and again. I don’t even want to tell you where it is.....but I will if you promise to keep it as restful and rejuvenating as it is now.
Pacific Sands Beach Resort.

Searching for the perfect swiss fondue

Thu, 3 Feb 2011 16:49:37 -0800

Cinda Chavich
GENEVA— Globe and Mail
Published Tuesday, Dec. 28, 2010 5:04PM EST
Last updated Wednesday, Dec. 29, 2010 10:52AM EST

The restaurant is underground, below the Edelweiss Hotel lobby, perhaps because any self-respecting Genevois would rather keep these stereotypes from public view. Once the yodelling starts, it’s hard to hide the fact that this place has all the Swiss clichés covered – and the cheesier, the better. From stuffed Saint Bernard plush toys to happy wanderers serenading diners with a The Sound of Music medley rung out on tinkling cowbells, it doesn’t get much kitschier than this.
It’s the standard stop for busloads of visiting tourists and conventioneers, and tonight it’s crammed with doctors dunking bread in pots of cheese and lining up for a chance to press their lips against the soggy mouthpiece of the 12-foot alpenhorn propped across the stage.
It’s the full-on Swiss alpine experience recreated in the centre of this suave business and banking city. I’ve even received my official certificate of fondue cookery, after ducking into the kitchen to watch a chef quickly melt shredded cheese into a slurry of wine and potato starch.

But that’s why we’re here: for the cheese. It’s on the menu almost everywhere, scraped in gooey masses off wheels of melting raclette, bubbling atop cast iron pans of fried potato rosti, broiled on cheese toasts, and served in classic macaroni and cheese.
And the piping hot enameled orange pots delivered to the table at the Edelweiss actually do offer a delicious example of this Swiss dish, filled with a rich medley of cheeses from every corner of the country. The Gruyère, Vacherin, Tilsit, Emmenthal, Appenzeller and Corolle de Gruyère each brings its own character to the mix, and with pickles, cold cuts and crisp Swiss white wine, we’re soon more than sated.
The great Gruyère that forms the nice, nutty background to any perfect pot of fondue comes from a little mountain town in the nearby canton of Fribourg and I hop a train to investigate.
Our light-filled dome car is a mix of locals in transit and gawking tourists taking in the stunning mountain scenery. The track loops up from Vevey and around the east end of sparkling Lake Geneva, circling the rooftops of posh Montreaux, and it’s not long before we’re climbing through deep valleys dotted with dairy cows. At one of the quaint alpine stations, a couple of gangly boys with backpacks stuffed with climbing ropes get off for a day’s recreation.
We switch trains, lured by the promise of cheese.
Gruyères is a busy tourist town, and the first stop is La Maison du Gruyère, a co-operative dairy making cheese with milk delivered from some of the 3,200 milk-producing farms in the region. It’s also a working museum and visitors can watch the cheese-making and aging process through picture windows while listening to a running commentary (in several languages) on a hand-held phone. Gruyere is made here twice a day, when milk deliveries arrive and, in the temperature-controlled aging cellar, a robot roams the aisles to turn the 7,000 massive wheels on schedule.
We learn all about the history of Gruyère, an AOC cheese – controlled appellation of origin product – made in 200 cheese dairies in Le Gruyères region, where cows wander the fields with their cow-bells ringing like wind chimes. The most coveted cheese is the Alpage, made from the milk collected in the summer when the cows are in the highest alpine pastures, with its hints of sweet wild flowers and herbs.
You can buy it in the gift store where a big cheese counter features Gruyère and other Swiss cheeses, andevery kind of fondue pot, raclette machine, or otherwise cheesy souvenir you can imagine.
You can also hop on the Fondue Train – an historic little train that runs from Bulle to Montbovon several times every weekend – for a fondue tasting excursion. More adventurous foodies can get a map of the hiking trails around Gruyères (www.la-gruyere.ch) and climb in warmer months through green alpine pastures, past pretty chalets, on a two-hour hike up to see how cheeses were made before modern automation took over.
Or just head to the local Musee Gruérien in Bulle, where a diorama approximates the process. We opt for a walk up to the walled medieval town of Gruyères, with its small inns, restaurants and tidy castle. It’s a tourist trap though we find some interesting corners, from the surreal museum and bar created by avant-garde artist H.R. Giger (he won an Academy Award for his design work on Alien, and the bar’s interior isn’t far off that mark), to the sweeping views across the valley from the castle gardens.
But it’s really all about the cows – and the milk – here in the canton of Fribourg. At the annual Désalpes parties that celebrate the herds descending from their summer pastures, the best bovine milk producer is crowned the grand dame of the cows and paraded through town bedecked in flowers. You’ll see the scene depicted in the local folk art that still decorates some farmhouses – paintings of a family’s black (or caramel) and white dairy cows, switching back down the slopes to the farm.
On an early September afternoon we only find a few young Holsteins in the fields. They come to the fence, curious, their individual bells clanging melodically when we approach. Some day their rich milk will be made into the nutty Gruyère that was bubbling atop the potato and bacon rosti I dug out of a hot cast iron frying pan for lunch, the double cream poured over my Swiss meringue dessert, and those pots of fondue the raucous locals share with us at Le Fribourgeois café.

Closer to home
Banff may be one of the best places to indulge your fondue fantasies. Thanks to all the Swiss mountaineers who first travelled here to guide climbers up unconquered peaks in 1897, fondue remains a Rocky Mountain tradition. Try it at:
The Grizzly House
All fondue, all the time – any kind of cheese, poultry or protein, from beef and shellfish to rattlesnake and shark. www.banffgrizzlyhouse.com
Fairmont Banff Springs
Get a table in front of the fire at the Waldhaus, the cozy former golf clubhouse behind the hotel, for cheese or beef, even chocolate, fondue. www.fairmont.com/banffsprings/GuestServices/Restaurants/WaldhausRestaurant.htm
Ticino
This is a Banff institution, where the chef’s from Appenzell and the fondue is made just as it is in the southern canton of Switzerland. www.ticinorestaurant.com
Bison Bistro
From classic fondue with three Swiss cheeses to goat cheese fondue, this contemporary restaurant specializes in local ingredients, charcuterie and fine cheese. www.thebison.ca
Want the real Swiss fondue experience?
Tips on where to stay and dine
Hotel Alpesgruyere
Small but serviceable rooms in the heart of the busy little alpine town of Bulle. www.alpesgruyere.ch
Café Le Fribourgeois
A classic family restaurant for fondue and other local specialties in Bulle. 12 Place des Alpes, Bulle
Monsieur Blanc
At this bakery and tearoom you’ll find deep yellow saffron bread, a specialty of the area, served with moutarde de benichon, a sweet and sour reduction of apples and pears. 5 Avenue de la Gare, Bulle
La Fleur de Lys
Special to The Globe and Mail

©Cinda Chavich 2011
www.tastereport.com

Patio party in Sultry San Antonio

Thu, 3 Feb 2011 16:31:46 -0800

CINDA CHAVICH
From Monday's Globe and Mail
Published Sunday, Jan. 09, 2011 4:30PM EST
Last updated Monday, Jan. 10, 2011 2:00PM EST

In downtown San Antonio, nothing is far from the River Walk, an urban oasis of greenery, meandering pathways, public art and wildlife.
You may not even notice it when you’re heading along busy St. Mary’s Street. But find a staircase under a traffic bridge, or cut through the lobby of a chic hotel like the Valencia and descend to river level, and you’ll find a lush place where flat-bottomed riverboats ply the shallow waters and couples stroll in the shadows.

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Constructed in the 1930s and 1940s for flood control, today the River Walk is like a bit of Venice in the heart of this Texas town. There are hotels and restaurants along every inch of it, photogenic footbridges, private terraces and overhanging trees, festooned in tiny lights. It’s like a great big outdoor patio party on a sultry Texas night.
But the River Walk has recently expanded – literally doubled in length. The new $74-million Museum Reach section of the walk ties the downtown restaurant strip with the spectacular Museum of San Antonio, in the repurposed historic Lone Star Brewery, and the Pearl Brewery site. It’s an urban-renewal project that has created a new place for food and culture lovers to gather, and a destination for those who really want to explore San Antonio on foot.
Local billionaire Christopher (Kit) Goldsbury (of Pace Picante Sauce fame) is behind the company that is repurposing the Pearl Brewery buildings (circa 1883), and already has some spiffy tenants and partners – from the new Culinary Institute of America San Antonio campus to stylish restaurants like Il Sogno and La Gloria, a large Aveda Institute spa and the farmers market. They’ve carved an amphitheatre out of the riverbank for outdoor concerts and you’ll find public art and secret riverside grottos to explore.
ART IN THE ODDEST PLACES
Southwest School of Art & Craft
300 Augusta St.; swschool.org
Start exploring the artistic end of the River Walk at the Southwest School of Art & Craft in the historic Ursuline convent. Sign up for a workshop or just take away a $5 piece of local art from the funky Art-o-Mat vending machine. From here, the new 2.1-kilometre River Walk extension leads through green spaces and public art installations found beneath the highway underpasses: from Carlos Cortes’s waterfall grotto to the ever-changing colours of Stuart Allen’s mesh panels and Donald Lipski’s colourful fibreglass sunfish. Explore on foot or boat by boarding a river barge water taxi that passes through the state’s only lock system.

MONKEY BREAD AND OTHER DELIGHTS
Pearl Farmers Market
200 East Grayson St.; pearlfarmersmarket.com
The old Full Goods building at the Pearl Brewery is the site of the Saturday and Wednesday farmers market. It’s a “producers only” market so there’s plenty of local stuff to sample, from organic melons to cinnamon monkey bread from Biga on the Banks bakery, Chrissy Omo’s fresh goat cheeses, and nuts from the Ocker Pecan Co. Find all this, plus cooking demos from local chefs, inside the old brewery warehouse and spilling out onto the riverside parking lot

STREET TREATS
La Gloria Ice House
100 East Grayson St.; lagloriaicehouse.com
La Gloria means “the heavens” and chef Johnny Hernandez creates heavenly, addictive Mexican street food at his casual restaurant in the Pearl District. Mr. Hernandez goes back to his roots with his fresh Mexican menu. Sit on the patio that overlooks the river and enjoy his version of the carnitas of Michoacan, tlayudas of Oaxaca, tortas, handmade tamales and blue agave tequila – divine flavours and little bites that will transport you to the taquerias and street carts of your favourite border town.

CHEF SHOPPING
Melissa Guerra
200 East Grayson St., Suite 122; melissaguerra.com
Inspired by the historic Mexican tienda, this is a culinary store with a Tex-Mex twist. Alongside the colourful Le Crueset cookware find Mexican comales, hand-painted pottery and tequila cups. There are artistic treasures and functional gadgets, from beautiful etched margarita glasses to tortilla presses, molcajete (the Mexican version of the mortar and pestle) and racks for filling tacos at home.
HISTORY ON THE RIVER
San Antonio Museum of Art
200 West Jones Ave.; samuseum.org
The San Antonio Museum of Art, with its incredible collection of Latin American folk art, is a must-see on the recently opened Museum Reach end of the River Walk. It’s housed in the former Lone Star Brewery building, with soaring display spaces and the casual Café des Artistes bistro next door. Stop for a coffee and French pastry on the patio overlooking the river, after perusing the pre-Columbian, Spanish colonial and American art collection

NEXT-GEN TEX-MEX
Acenar
146 East Houston St.; acenar.com
Ácenar is the next generation of Tex-Mex cuisine – old recipes and gourmet ingredients, with cool cocktails, in a bold contemporary space along the historic River Walk downtown. Try chef James Sanchez’s fried oyster on crisp yucca chips, blue crab tacos or mushroom crêpes topped with huitlacoche, a delicate and delicious corn fungus known as the Mexican truffle. Wash it down with a sweet blood orange mojito.

ITALIAN IN A TEX-MEX TOWN
Il Sogno
100-200 East Grayson St.; pearlbrewery.com/pages/eat_ilsogno.html
Il Sogno is the latest for local chef and restaurateur Andrew Weissman – a cool and casual Italian eatery in the Pearl Brewery district. Start with a sampling from the antipasto bar – the octopus carpaccio in mint vinaigrette is great – then move on to prosciutto pizza from the wood-burning oven or classic osso bucco with creamy risotto. The restaurant doesn’t take reservations, but a seat at the communal table or at the open kitchen bar can be fun and enlightening
Special to The Globe and Mail
©Cinda Chavich 2011
www.tastereport.com

SCOTLAND: IN SEARCH OF HAGGIS

Mon, 24 Jan 2011 11:42:35 -0800

By CINDA CHAVICH

EDINBURGH - With the annual Robert Burns Night dinners looming, there may be no better time to explore the topic of haggis, so I took my appetite off to the Scottish Highlands.
I’d barely landed in Edinburgh, when a dinner at the funky Urban Angel offered an opportunity to sample a locally-made haggis, and the ultimate culinary oxymoron, a vegetarian haggis.

HOW TO MAKE A HAGGIS
For those who don’t know – or don’t want to know - the traditional haggis is classic Scottish peasant food, a sort of sausage, made with leftover bits of lamb innards mixed with oatmeal and onions, seasoned with lots of black pepper and stuffed into a sheep’s stomach. Since the Scottish bard penned an ode to this odd local delicacy, every January 25, the Burns birthday celebration includes an address to the haggis, after said stodgy ball of mystery meat is piped ceremoniously into the dining room, and a dagger is plunged into the heart of it.
While one chef graphically explained to me that the haggis is traditionally made with the lamb “pluck” – “all of the entrails that come out of a sheep when you pull out the windpipe” – most admitted that the best haggis includes better quality ground lamb and organ meats like liver or kidney, with a lot less of the awful offal included.

REGULAR VS VEGETARIAN HAGGIS
When my Urban Angel haggis arrived – the specialty of Findlay’s, a local artisan butcher – it was a rich, meaty version, freed from it’s casing and piled in a bowl, in a puddle of creamy leek sauce, with “clapshot mash” (potatoes and turnips) alongside. Because I couldn’t make up my mind, the hearty portion delivered included both this true meaty haggis and MacSween’s veggie facsimile.
The latter was a healthy combination of beans, lentils, carrots, mushrooms, chopped mixed nuts and the obligatory oats – sort of a deconstructed veggie burger – and delicious enough for me to think about creating my own vegetarian haggis at home.

ASIAN HAGGIS? HAGGIS IN A CAN? HAGGIS SAMOSAS?
In Edinburgh, everyone, from cab drivers to beauticians, offered me advice on where to find the best haggis and I learned that it fills spicy haggis samosas and pakoras, is rolled into haggis “bon bons” for finger food, stuffed into chicken breasts and baked into phyllo pastry haggis spring rolls. You can even buy haggis in a can and “1 minute haggis” – two slices of vegetarian haggis in a convenient, microwavable package – or “Asian haggis” spiced with cumin, coriander and garam masala.
THE BEST HAGGIS IS?
As I made my way north from Edinburgh, through Perthshire and up to Loch Ness and into the spectacular Trossachs, it was the more traditional meaty haggis that appeared on menus, and I indulged at breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Haggis, like fish and chips, is typical pub food, and I had a warm slice of it topped with a big quenelle of potato/turnip mash at the The Ship Inn pub in Elie, a beachside town across the Firth of Forth. After a chilly late fall walk on the broad sandy beach, it was the perfect way to warm up, with a drink of Scottish ginger wine.
At the Mains of Taymouth, a luxury self-catering condo set-up near Aberfeldy, the gourmet food store had Ramsay’s and McSween’s regular and vegetarian haggis in the cooler - in baseball and golf ball sizes for small dinners and appetizers along with other Scottish specialties.

At the resort’s Courtyard restaurant the haggis was more refined. They served a “haggis tower” appetizer – a round of haggis perched artfully atop a layered stack of mashed potato and golden mashed rutabaga, in a pool of local Aberfeldy whisky sauce.

In North Ballachulish, at a quirky old hotel overlooking Loch Leven, we stopped for lunch, where the chef Dieter Hoffmann-Rollauer baked individual-sized haggis balls in a puff pastry crust and served them with a savoury sauce. The presentation was his own but the haggis was from a local village butcher, a story I heard at almost every stop.
Most places that serve a full Scottish breakfast include a slice of haggis alongside the blood pudding, back bacon, sautéed mushrooms, grilled tomato and fried egg, but it’s rarely made in-house.

Even at the upscale Monachyle Mhor, where chef Tom Lewis uses his own farm eggs, foraged wild mushrooms, Highland beef and black-faced lamb on the menu, and makes all of the bread and desserts from scratch, the haggis comes from the award-winning Aberfoyle Butcher.
And like many of the presentations I found, it arrives like a large salami, stuffed into a synthetic casing, and is sliced and broiled or fried for service.
Only at the Lovat Arms Hotel, at the base of Loch Ness in St. Augustus, did I find a whole traditional ball haggis on the menu - served for two and dubbed Chieftan o’ thae Puddin’ Race, as Burns did in his famous poem.

BUTCHERS MAKE IT BETTER
Back in Edinburgh, Mark Smith, the butcher and owner at George Bower in Stockbridge, specializes in wild game and traditional “puddings” – black, white and lumpy balls of haggis, stuffed into sheep stomachs. They’re hanging in the window of the historic shop, alongside freshly-killed pheasants, their iridescent feathers glinting in the low afternoon light.

“There’s more meat in a good haggis these days,” he says, pulling out a £4 specimen and holding it up before a portrait of the bard, as the original butcher did here for a decades-old photo that still hangs behind the meat counter.
“It’s lamb and beef, fully cooked, in a natural casing – rich and meaty with a peppery edge.”
Simply add a piper and pour a dram.

http://eatscotland.visitscotland.com/

A photo essay - based on this story - appeared in the Globe and Mail

©Cinda Chavich 2011
www.tastereport.com

A Taste of Lyon - Capital of gastronomy

Mon, 24 Jan 2011 10:29:24 -0800

CINDA CHAVICH
Lyons, France— From Thursday's Globe and Mail
Published Wednesday, Jan. 19, 2011 4:50PM EST

Paris has its museums and monuments, but Lyons has long held the title of “capital of gastronomy.” Everywhere you turn, there is something wonderful to eat.
A smoky pork sausage, shot with pistachios and served with a mound of mashed potatoes in a pool of cream sauce. A skewered brochette of foie gras or a pretty macaron in Les Halles Paul Bocuse. A simple plate of lentils with a fat fish quenelle, served with a pot (the local term for a flask) of local Rhône wine in a rustic bouchon… Lyons is all about rich, rustic, French food.

I was there for the 2009 Bocuse d'Or, the world's most prestigious cooking contest, a biennial pressure cooker that pits the top chefs in the world against each other in a live, timed event before a sea of screaming fans. It's an incredible sight – Mr. Bocuse himself, the Lyons chef known as the father of nouvelle French cuisine, flanked by American star chefs Thomas Keller and Daniel Boulud as the judging begins.

But even as the world's best cooks gathered to compete, I found even more incredible cuisine along Lyons' narrow streets.

This is a town with a food tradition built on home cooking. The “mothers” of Lyons – the cooks who a century ago opened the first bouchons (casual restaurants) – set the bar. Mère Brazier, one of the first chefs to win three Michelin stars, also trained the young Mr. Bocuse, and so I'm keen to discover the best examples of this famed bistro cuisine.

There's no better way to get your bearings in Lyons than from the Basilica, high on Fourviere Hill, and we ride the funicular up, before wandering back through the old city, a UNESCO World Heritage site. Below, beyond the Roman amphitheatre dating to 43 BC and the tall, red-roofed houses of the historic silk weavers area, the Saône and Rhône rivers braid their way through the city centre. Lyons was built on silk – a handful of weavers continue to create exquisite silk fabrics on the clanking wooden looms.
And you can still find secret traboules (covered alleyways once used to transport the precious cloth) joining the cobbled lanes of the old town.

We find the kind of food that the fuelled silk workers (canuts) at Café des Fédérations, a cozy little eatery in the heart of the city. Rhône wine and conversation flows in these close quarters, and we dig into hearty portions of black lentils with calves feet, herring and potatoes in olive oil, big pike quenelles floating in creamy crayfish Nantua sauce, and Cervelle de canut (which translates as “silk workers' brain”), a combination of fresh fromage blanc, chopped chives and herbs to be spread on toast. Pink and gooey praline tart makes a fitting finale to a hearty traditional lunch.
Lyons is a walkable city, which is a necessity with all of the rich Lyonnaise cuisine served in every bouchon, brasserie and the city's many Michelin-starred restaurants.

Creative young chef Nicholas Le Bec continues to expand with Espace Le Bec at the airport and the new Rue Le Bec, a huge market emporium/brasserie concept in a converted warehouse at the tip of Presqu'île, where the Rhône and Saône rivers converge. Lunch is a classic Lyonnaise salad, topped with crispy pork lardons and poached egg. We stop for wine and charcuterie in the trendy wine bar Georges Five on Rue du Boeuf, then toast the Canadian Bocuse competitors at the Brasserie Georges with tall glasses of house-brewed beer and plates of marrow bones, pistachio-studded Lyonnaise sausages and rich Alsatian choucroute.
A trip to the famous Les Halles de Lyons Paul Bocuse – the formal name of Lyon's finest food market – uncovers the master chef's favourite purveyors, and I'm amazed by the sheer wealth of regional ingredients. There are shops selling nothing but pretty French macarons, the ethereal sweet meringue cookie flavoured with everything from green tea to foie gras, bakeries piled with fresh, crusty loaves, and counters stacked with fragrant wheels of local cheeses. Giraudet sells nothing but quenelles, some with butter and chestnuts, others blackened with squid ink or simply made the traditional way, with pike.

We can't resist a stop at an oyster bar for a glass of wine and a plate of freshly shucked mollusks, and a taste of traditional Spanish jamon.

And we marvel at whole black truffles, at the famous Bresse chicken (with its white plumage, bright red comb and blue feet reminiscent of the French flag), and a shop selling all manner of foie gras, skewered on sticks, pressed into terrines and formed into a massive gâteau.

Mr. Bocuse is undeniably Lyons' most celebrated chef – with his likeness depicted in wall murals, his chain of bistros dotting the city and the eponymous culinary competition. A meal at his famed L'Auberge du Pont de Collognes is a culinary pilgrimage and we make the trip to Mont d'Or to sample the classic menu he has been cooking here for decades. The Bresse chicken is dramatically steamed in a pig's bladder and carved tableside, and Mr. Bocuse's truffle soup is served exactly as it was for the French president in 1975, in a footed soup bowl and topped with a dome of puff pastry. Mr. Bocuse retains three Michelin stars but this is a museum experience – Lyons' best food is simple.

At his comfortable cooking school next to his suburban home, chef Jean-Marc Villard teaches amateurs like me to make a classic Lyonnaise potato gratin, slivered potatoes simmering with garlic and cream, served with the classic Bresse chicken.
“This is something you could eat in a bouchon, a dish that's simple and traditional, but delicious,” says Mr. Villard, a former Michelin star chef who also teaches professionals at the Paul Bocuse Institute.
“Here in Lyons,” he adds, “we always eat well.”
Special to The Globe and Mail

©Cinda Chavich 2011
www.tastereport.com

scotland: where the royals roam on holiday

Wed, 22 Dec 2010 14:42:38 -0800

CINDA CHAVICH
CALLANDER— From Thursday's Globe and Mail
Published Wednesday, Dec. 15, 2010 4:21PM EST

Scottish hero Rob Roy eluded capture by escaping into the wild Trossachs, and today top-drawer celebrities have made it their own Highland hideout.
Secluded at the end of a narrow, winding road, Monachyle Mhor makes a luxurious spot for an incognito getaway. Stars such as Ewan McGregor and Gerard Butler have stayed at the small country hotel. Even Prince William dined at TV chef Tom Lewis’s table and got into some Highland high jinks.
“He’s good friends with good friends of ours – the nicest young man,” Mr. Lewis says, recalling the night of the “drinking jumper,” when the prince experienced the Tequila Stuntman (“you snort the salt, drink the tequila and squirt the lemon in your eye”) after donning a sweater someone spontaneously spray-painted with a Superman “S.”
“We had a big night here before university – and someone painted a tank top with a tin of black paint – I wonder whatever happened to it,” Mr. Lewis muses.
It’s really not a surprise that Prince William felt comfortable enough to let his hair down. The 18th-century farmhouse, perched on 2,000 hilly acres above Loch Voil, feels just like home.
Perhaps it’s the snug little bar or sinking into a squishy old club chair by the fire in the parlour. Maybe it’s the chic and spacious suites – like mine above the old coach house, with its brown velvet settee for curling up with the stack of art and photography books displayed on a sleek shelf, and a little jar of crunchy shortbread from the baker.
Or maybe it’s just the Lewis family’s fun and infectious hospitality.
The 14-room boutique hotel began life as their home, the place where parents Rob and Jean raised Tom, Dick and Melanie after moving to Scotland from their farm in Wales in 1983. Jean plunged into the hospitality business by first serving tea and scones to hikers and hunters passing by the farm, eventually creating a cozy B&B, which her offspring have expanded into a posh country hotel in the farm’s cluster of historic stone outbuildings.
The parents have since retired to France, and the children have put Monachyle Mhor on the map as an exclusive getaway with Tom’s fine cooking. They have also opened a fish shop and cooking school (Mhor Fish) and an artisan bakery and tea room (Mhor Bread) in the nearby town of Callander, and run the old Library Tea Room in Balquhidder, just across the road from the churchyard where the legendary Highlander Rob Roy (MacGregor) is buried.
It all makes for a great jumping-off spot for tramping through the Trossachs. The feisty MacGregor and MacLaren clans rallied for battle here, slipping away from the redcoats into the hills that are crossed with their old footpaths, and you can hike up to Rob Roy’s cave, once a Jacobite mine, hidden behind a rushing waterfall. In the famous outlaw’s day, Jacobite sympathizers painted the fronts of their houses pink, and the Lewis farm still stands out on the grassy Highland hillside in all of its pink glory.
Monachyle Mhor remains a working farm – you will see the family’s black-faced sheep and woolly Highland cattle grazing in the fields below the house, and there are Tamworth pigs, honeybees and laying hens clucking in the yard. All of this local food makes its way onto Mr. Lewis’s creative menu – from the full Scottish breakfasts to appetizers of blood-pudding bonbons or quenelles of smoked Scottish salmon and eel, Kyle of Tongue oysters on the half shell with whisky mignonette, fat scallops served atop a tangle of tender squid in nutty romesco sauce, and their Highland steak with melting braised beef cheek – all artfully presented and tasting very “mhorish.”
Mr. Lewis is the culinary driver of this creative family project. He describes himself as “a farmer and a professional sheep shearer,” but he has absorbed enough about cooking from his talented mother to make this one of the finest places to dine in the countryside.
“I have so much on my doorstep, it makes it easy to cook,” he says. The wild mushrooms – cepes, hedgehog, boletes and chanterelles – found in the glen are a specialty, and he includes lemony wood sorrel, wild garlic, rowan berries and elderflowers on his plates. The sustainable seafood, served here and sold at Mhor Fish, is based on what the fishermen net on the way home, including the “bycatch.”
“We pay a premium to buy that mixed box – it’s a nicer way to buy fish,” says Mr. Lewis, who instructs customers on how to cook whole fish or prepare unusual things like blue ling cod, brill and gurnard. There are also cooking classes focused on bread and jam making, even butchering and cooking wild game “if a customer goes stalking” or fishing for brown trout and char in the lochs.
You can drive in to the secluded Monachyle Mhor – just 90 minutes from either Edinburgh or Glasgow – or, if your budget allows, charter a seaplane for a short but scenic flight and a gourmet lunch.
Come to the rugged glen for Christmas mulled wine and mince pies, or the famous Scottish Hogmanay (New Year) festivities.
It’s the perfect place to slip away for the season.
Special to the Globe and Mail
IF YOU GO
Monachyle Mhor is 16 kilometres outside Callander. Reach it by winding single-track road or charter a small plane from Glasgow (www.lochlomondseaplanes.com).
THE HOTEL
The 14-room boutique hotel offers midweek specials and has Christmas and Hogmanay packages, complete with three nights at the hotel, meals and festivities starting at £1,150 (about $2,000). www.mhor.net

RIGHT TO ROAM
Scotland’s “right to roam” legislation means that you can wander almost anywhere. Explore Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park. Plan to hike the Rob Roy Way. www.lochlomond-trossachs.org
Special to The Globe and Mail

©Cinda Chavich 2011
www.tastereport.com

CANADA’S NORTHERN GANNET COLONY MAY BE DEVASTATED BY OIL SPILL

Thu, 22 Jul 2010 15:17:08 -0700

CINDA CHAVICH
PERCÉ, QUE. — From Saturday's Globe and Mail
Published on Friday, Jun. 18, 2010 12:28PM EDT

The sight of 120,000 northern gannets, nesting noisily on a rocky island in Quebec's Gaspé region, is spectacular – but this year, it's a wildlife watching experience tinged with tragedy.
“It breaks my heart to probably know that this year is the best year to see the colony,” says Carole Couet of Parks Quebec, her commanding voice cracking as she describes the future facing the largest and most accessible gannetry in the world.
“We do not know what will happen when our birds go south. In the next two or three years we will see – but we know they will go in those waters.”
Couet is speaking of the Gulf of Mexico, where crude continues to spew from a leaking off-shore oil well. This is where the thousands of gannets that mate in Canada each summer will return in October to spend the winter, and no one knows for sure just what that will mean for future populations.

Gannets in the Gaspé
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A young northern gannet was one of the first oily birds pulled from the slick near Louisiana, and experts fear thousands more may perish as a result of the disaster, either by consuming or being consumed by the toxic waters.
But for now, the big birds are safe and sound – soaring, squawking and procreating on this isolated island at the mouth of the St. Lawrence River, just off the eastern tip of the rugged Gaspé Peninsula.
We've arrived at the l'Île-Bonaventure-et-du-Rocher-Percé National Park on one of the tour boats that ferry passengers past the red face of Percé Rock to nearby Bonaventure Island every 20 minutes each day. Wheeling above us, as we round the steep cliffs, are thousands of graceful white gannets, their black-tipped wings catching the ocean updrafts as they scan the waters for fish and sea plants, while their mates protect their nests, tucked into the rock walls and massed like a snowbank across a windswept slope.
When the boat docks, we follow Couet into one of the historic red and white buildings that dot the shoreline for quick lesson in gannet behaviour before heading down the hiking trail to the colony. It's a pleasant 45-minute walk through the forest to the blustery point, where 60,000 nesting pairs each guard a single egg beneath their rubbery webbed feet.
You can hear the cacophony before you actually see the mass of bobbing birds, and it's a stunning sight to behold.
Gannets are beautiful creatures – pristine white plumage with a blush of saffron across their heads during mating season, and startlingly icy blue eyes, framed by graphic black lines that might have been painted by a creative makeup artist.
The colony is literally behind a rope barrier where the thousands of nesting birds are nearly close enough to touch. Observers, with binoculars and cameras with telephoto lenses, watch and snap from a grassy slope or from wooden platforms perched above the neatly spaced nests.
It's like a bird's-eye view of any crowded community – thousands of couples squabbling and making up, neighbours jostling for space, commuters leaving and returning home in a steady stream. Gannets, while elegant in flight, are comically clumsy as they take off and land from the crowded slope and we watch as they somersault from the sky.
Each of the 60,000 nests here is a mere 60 centimetres away from its neighbour, so territorial disputes erupt continuously as birds fly in with their long beaks laden with seaweed and other nesting materials, or inadvertently stray across territorial lines.
These big seabirds mate for life – though they don't actually recognize their mates, Couet says. Gannets are fiercely territorial, and both male and female return to the same nest each year, a shallow mound of seaweed and feathers, where the birds take turns incubating a solitary blue-green egg.
Couples engage in a kind of bill-to-bill swordplay when they meet, and we watch them stretch their long necks skyward, crossing their pale blue bills in an elegant greeting.
The gannets migrate north to their nesting grounds during the first three weeks of April, so it appears that most adults arrived at Bonaventure Island before the April 20 blowout of the BP well in waters off Louisiana.
But juveniles remain in the Gulf region for the first three or four years of their lives, and while it's unknown exactly where the birds stay while at sea, researchers estimate that up to 15,000 juvenile gannets may now be trapped in the oily waters.
“We know the young ones, two or three years old, are still around the Gulf of Mexico,” says Bonaventure Island park warden Marie-Lou Beaudin. “It’s hard to tell what will happen – this is our first experience with this kind of disaster.”
The good news is that the expected returnees arrived safely.
“The adult birds had already returned before the oil spill and any that made it were not affected by oil,” says Kim Mawhinney, manager of population conservation for the Canadian Wildlife Service. “Environment Canada has been closely tracking the situation.”
In 2007, 25 birds were fitted with GPS transmitters to follow their southern migrations, and researchers learned that the birds wintered all along the southeastern U.S. coast, from the Carolinas to the Gulf. Environment Canada is “closely monitoring the situation and tracking the spill drift trajectory,” but when the adult gannets now nesting in Canada fly south in October, they may encounter oil.
“Adults will return to their wintering grounds and if there is oil on the water, they are vulnerable to being oiled,” Mawhinney says. “The timing of the cleanup is critical.”
Meanwhile, Catherine Ayotte, a student from nearby University of Quebec in Rimouski, is spending her summer at the Bonaventure Island colony, part of a three-year study of gannet nesting and chick mortality.
“We come here each day to see if there is an egg or a chick,” says Ayotte, who is watching 150 different nests.
Last year, cold weather resulted in fewer eggs and higher mortality than normal, though this year she’s already counted eggs in 80 per cent of the nests she is watching. She says she may also attempt to band some birds this year and do blood tests to see how the oil contamination is impacting the birds’ health.
“All of the food is toxic now, so we don’t know what the birds will do,” she says. “We will see the results of this next year and in years to come.”
Other migrating wildlife – from sea and shore birds to whales – will also be impacted when they leave Canadian waters for winter ranges in the fall.
At least for this summer, it’s wildlife watching as usual on the St. Lawrence.
Special to The Globe and Mail
IF YOU GO
Fly to Gaspé from Quebec City on Air Canada, or travel directly to Percé on VIA Rail’s Chaleur, an overnight train from Montreal to the Gaspé. It’s a 1,090-kilometre drive from Montreal.
BIRD WATCHING Three companies run regular boat tours to Bonaventure Island, including viewing of Percé Rock, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. Entrance to Parc national du Québec is $3.50 and the boat ride is $25. Allow four hours for the easy 1.5-hour (return) hike to the bird colony and for bird watching. www.infogaspesie.com
WHERE TO STAY AND DINE
Le Mirage A nicely renovated hotel/motel on the hillside overlooking the town of Percé and the spectacular Percé Rock. $118 in the off-season. 288 Route 132 Ouest, Percé; 1-800-463-9011; www.hotellemirageperce.com
William Wakeham Inn Ask for the Queen’s room and enjoy some of the finest dining in the region. Rooms from $89, or $139 per person including multi-course dinner and breakfast. 186 de la reine, Gaspé; 418-368-5537; www.maisonwakeham.ca
La Petite Églize Visit friendly Claudine Roy at Brise Bise Restaurant for lunch or drinks, and check out her entertainment space, La Petite Églize, in a converted church featuring performances by local Gaspésie and Québécois musicians. www.brisebise.ca; www.eglize.qc.ca
For more: www.quebecmaritime.qc.ca/en
C.C.

©Cinda Chavich 2010
www.tastereport.com

Where to find Bohemian-chic in cowtown

Mon, 3 May 2010 07:41:55 -0700

CINDA CHAVICH
From Wednesday's Globe and Mail
Published on Tuesday, Apr. 20, 2010 3:59PM EDT
Last updated on Wednesday, Apr. 21, 2010 11:54AM EDT
While the building frenzy has slowed in Calgary, this city seems intent on growing upward and outward, the construction crane a kind of metaphor for the industrious, open-for-business Alberta brand.
So under the glare of the high-intensity lights that illuminate the ongoing construction of The Bow – soon to be the city's massive (for Calgary) sky-scraping monolith at 58 storeys – it's nice to know a few more human-scale, bohemian nooks still exist downtown.
Just start from the city centre and head due east – 9th Avenue is the route to Calgary's creative and bohemian core. It stretches from the iconic Calgary Tower, east past City Hall and into the funky neighbourhood of Inglewood, where some of the earliest storefronts now house eclectic entrepreneurs.
Le Germain, the city's newest and finest hotel at 9th Avenue and Centre Street, is a good place to start with Charcut, a cool, locovore eatery, at its base. From here, it's an easy 10-minute walk to historic Fort Calgary at the confluence of the Bow and Elbow rivers, where the North-West Mounted Police first set up shop in 1875. These days, the city is busy cutting new roadways through the largely empty stretch between the riverbank and the old rail yards that flank 9th Avenue – making the area “developer ready” for the planned East Village revitalization – but once you get past this bit of no-man's land, you're into Inglewood.
With historic homes lining the riverbank – and the names of pioneers like Burns, Fraser, Douglas and Aull chiselled into the façades of the brick buildings along the avenue – it's easy to imagine what Calgary's oldest neighbourhood might have been like a century ago. Many of the shops still have creaky wood floors and high, pressed-tin ceilings, and the area has a casual vibe, with old-fashioned pizza joints flourishing next to high-end furniture stores. It's here that you'll find a hodgepodge of places to poke through, from used bookstores and fashion boutiques to some of the city's finest restaurants, whether you're up for a five-course meal or an awesome Italian sausage sandwich.
Aside from shops, though, Inglewood is home to a vibrant cultural scene. You might see local legend country singer Ian Tyson or indie roots rockers on the Ironwood Stage, or you can take in one of 150 shows at the summer Fringe Festival.
CHARCUT ROAST HOUSE “Char” stands for the char-grilled meat from the custom rotisserie and “cut” for the vintage meat slicer that turns house-made charcuterie into papery pieces, but this new eatery is about a lot more than meat. Chefs and owners John Jackson and Connie DeSousa are serious scratch cooks – their creative menu, based on local, artisan ingredients, changes daily. Try the lamb ham or pig-head mortadella with crunchy dill pickles, tuna conserved in olive oil with lemon, and rotisserie roasted organic chicken and beef. There’s an open kitchen, cool communal table and huge selection of craft beer. 101 899 Centre St. SW; 403-984-2180; charcut.com
BITE GROCETERIA This is nirvana for serious cooks – Bite carries the foie gras, local lamb, wild game and other fine local and imported ingredients used by the city’s top chefs, and some of them contribute their own creations (from veal jus to rice pudding) to the coolers too. Come for the superb sandwiches and soup, and Julie Denhamer will turn you on to a great cheese or a piece of must-have cookware. 1212 9th Ave. SE; 403-263-3966; bitegroceteria.com
NECTAR DESSERTS Skip right to dessert at Nectar – a groovy café where the sweets are paired with wine and Scotch whisky (or great coffee and tea) and the comfortable space is open late. Don’t miss the lemon tarts, macaroons and retro Red Velvet cake. Come on Wednesday nights for chocolate fondue or Sundays for afternoon tea. Upstairs, 1216 9th Ave. SE; 403-263-8486; nectardesserts.com

Cinda Chavich for The Globe and Mail
Lemon tarts are just one of the many exquisite desserts that can be found at Nectar.

EYE ON DESIGN Women seeking something unique to wear need look no further – this clothing boutique carries boho-chic lines – including Lauren Vidal, Sunlight Paris, Sarah Pacini and Sympli the Best – plus great chunky jewellery. Take the skinny spiral staircase downstairs for deals. 1219A 9th Ave. SE; 403-266-4750; eyeondesign.ca
CIRCA VINTAGE ART GLASS This shop’s collection of mid-century modern art glass in Canada includes stunning Italian table lamps, spacey light fixtures, colourful Scandinavian vases and the kind of funky glass ashtrays once found in your parents’ basement. A museum of modern glass works from the 1950s and 1960s. 1226A 9th Ave. SE; 403-290-0145; 877-290-0145, www.circa5060.ca
ROUGE Rouge is routinely rated among the top three restaurants in Calgary – thanks to chef and co-owner Paul Rogalski’s commitment to fresh, locally produced, artisan ingredients. Some are so fresh they come from the kitchen garden growing next to this historic house built in 1891, which was once home to pioneer A.E. Cross. Today, the kitchen bursts with Rogalski’s and restaurant chef Michael Dekker’s inspired flavours – such as smoked arctic char and lemon balm mousse, or Alberta elk and Agria potato perogies, seared foie gras and duck confit tourtière with crab apple gastrique – and that’s just the starters. 1240 8th Ave. SE; 403-531-2767; rougecalgary.com
SPOLUMBO’S FINE FOODS & ITALIAN DELI For freshly made gourmet Italian sausages, or the city’s finest panini sandwiches, no one comes close to the three ex-Stampeder football players behind Spolumbo’s Deli. Come for a beefy lunch or to fill your cooler. 1308 9th Ave. SE, 403-264-6452, www.spolumbos.com
KNIFEWEAR Former chef Kevin Kent’s hamonoya (knife store) has every perfectly hammered blade laid out in a glass case like the steel showpiece it is. He’ll put one of his fine Japanese knives into your hand when you arrive, pass you a potato and introduce you to the Zen of slicing. Chefs shop here, collectors too. 1316 9th Ave. SE; 403-514-0577; www.knifewear.com

Cinda Chavich for The Globe and Mail
At Kevin Kent’s hamonoya (knife store), he'll put one of his fine Japanese blades into your hand when you arrive.

CHOKLAT Chocolate fanatic Brad Churchill imports his own cocoa beans and roasts them onsite, making his single origin, 70-per-cent cocoa chocolate bars and truffles from scratch. 1327A 9th Ave. SE; 403-457-1419; sochoklat.com
SUZIE Q BEADS, BUTTONS & BIJOUX The mother of all bead shops. Whether you want to slide into a class and create your own baubles, or pick up a new Trollbead for your bracelet, Suzie Q has lots of sparkly and shiny things. 1401 9th Ave. SE; 403-266-1202; suzieqbeads.com
CAPO Arguably the finest Italian chef in Calgary, Giuseppe Di Gennaro creates the kind of contemporary haute cuisine at Capo that you might expect in Naples or Milan. Watch the master at work in his open kitchen – perfect technique makes for exquisite plates. #4 1420 9th Ave. SE; 403-264-2276; caporestaurant.ca

©Cinda Chavich 2010
www.tastereport.com

EXPLORATIONS IN WHO-VILLE

Mon, 19 Apr 2010 15:18:27 -0700

By CINDA CHAVICH   (Cardiff, Wales) – “Whoooooo-OOO-ooooooo” - the eerie strains of the familiar electronica theme pulses in the background as we make our way through the Doctor Who museum in Cardiff. There are Daleks and shiny chrome Cybermen. David Tennant’s classic great coat is here, and so is the TARDIS, the blue police box that acts as his time traveling office and space craft. If you can’t hear the music in your head, or have never known a mysterious doctor who travels through time, then all of this probably sounds quite kitschy and trite. But just as the Eleventh Doctor – young Matt Smith – is about to take over from the lovable David Tennant, we’ve landed smack in the middle of Who-Ville, where Doctor Who and its sexy anagram spinoff, Torchwood, are now filmed. It is definitely kitschy – and admittedly a tad trite – but believe me, it’s cool to be here among the costumes, rubber-masked creatures and other Whovian bric-a-brac. I mean, where else would you find an evil alien life form that looks like it was cobbled together with metal mixing bowls and egg beaters? The BBC’s Doctor Who is the longest running science fiction television show in the world, first airing in 1963. I remember it as one of those late night, after-the-bar kind of oddball British shows – like Monty Python and Fawlty Towers – from my college days. It was certainly high kitsch, following the adventures of bohemian Tom Baker, the fourth Doctor in the series. But since the show’s revival in the past decade, with the Tennant’s charismatic Time Lord, I’ve been smitten again, this time by the great writing, high production values, and aliens that are seriously scary. The new series has also solidified a new American fan base, with the annual L.A.-based Gallifrey One, the largest gathering of Doctor Who fanatics in the country. Doctor Who has long been a cult favourite, with its crazy costumes and low-budget special effects, popping the blue police box down in all manner of scenic spots, and visually travelling through time and space, thanks to the creators’ early use of the show’s trademark green screen technology. It’s the first thing we discover at the Doctor Who Up Close exhibit in the Red Dragon Centre, down in the newly-developed Cardiff Bay entertainment district. Step on the mark against the green screen and see yourself with the time travelling TARDIS (Time and Relative Dimensions In Space) in a classic Doctor Who scenario, and watch clips from explosive episodes – like the Fires of Pompeii – while examining costumes and props. We’ve raced here in a cab, just in time to zip through the multi-media experience, before the museum closes for the day. Our driver knows exactly where to drop us off as he’s been here many times – his eight-year-old son adores Doctor Who, though the cabbie doesn’t share his enthusiasm. “In the 1970s, when I came to this country, Doctor Who was on TV on Tuesday nights and I always went out, just because I didn’t want to see it,” he says dryly as we pay the fare and dash off to get a look at stocky, potato-headed Sontarans, and telepathic, squid-faced Ood. There’s just time to see Captain Jack’s WWII uniform, pet the Doctor’s robotic dog K-9 and check out the museum highlight, the deadly Daleks. It’s a crazy, noisy little encounter, with lots of strobe lights, sound effects and spooky corners to explore. No wonder 8-year-old boys can’t get enough of it. But apparently, we’re not the only grown-ups with a thing for this clever, quirky, transitioning Time Lord. I know of no other ongoing television show that inspires magazines, books and weekly podcasts – with “experts” and fans dissecting dialogue and plot to uncover new meaning and motivation. There are Doctor Who playing cards, Dalek fridge magnets, TARDIS USB ports and sonic screwdriver pens. You can update daily with the Doctor Who Information Network (dwin.org) – with Who-ventions around the world from L.A. and Sydney to Toronto – while the Doctor Who Online website recently celebrated it’s 20 millionth visitor.  With its combination of ultra-modern architecture and historic Victorian arcades, pedestrian malls, eerie castles and industrial zones, Cardiff makes a perfect backdrop for these mythical space and time travelers.  We never do see the TARDIS materialize in our days touring the city, though there is a sighting of a BBC film crew outside Cardiff City Hall, just before we arrive. Shopping for British tweed in a classic men’s shop across the street from historic Cardiff Castle, a sales person confides he once saw the blue police box inside the castle walls, and watched aliens chased through its hidden passages.  The medieval St. John’s church was the place where Donna disappeared in the Runaway Bride episode, and in the Food Hall at Howell’s, a clerk recalls the day the historic department store became a Doctor Who Victorian streetscape, and “they filmed explosions on the corner outside.” The iconic Wales Millennium Centre and environs, around the newly restored dockside developments at Cardiff Bay, is another bit of Cardiff you’ll see regularly on these sci-fi shows. It’s home to Torchwood, the elite unit fighting aliens that emerge through “The Rift”, “a tear in the fabric of space and time” running across the centre of town.  The sexy spinoff has also done much to put sleepy Cardiff on the map as a cool, contemporary city – with dramatic aerial shots of bay-area interchanges and the reflective, 70-foot Water Tower fountain in the plaza, where the Torchwood team emerges through an invisible lift from “The Hub”, their secret underground headquarters. “We’re the landlords of Doctor Who,” says David Pearce, the business development manager for the Millennium Centre, Cardiff’s iconic, metal-clad modern arts centre. “There’s continual filming around here. Our main concourse was an intergalactic hospital, and we’ve been lift shafts and tunnels for escaping Daleks and Cybermen.”  With the official Doctor Who Locations Guide map in hand, we head off on our own tour around the Torchwood “set”, from The Tube, a modern steel-sheathed visitor’s centre, to the restaurants and bars along trendy Mermaid Quay. The slate and glass Senedd (Welsh Assembly), Bosphorous and contemporary Pearl of the Orient restaurants are just a few places where you might find the Doctor or Torchwood cast. Down along the boardwalk, where the water bus stops, many Torchwood fans have obviously been here before us – dozens of letters, mourning the killing off of Torchwood character Ianto Jones last year, are tacked up on “Ianto’s Wall”, a crazy, impromptu memorial to the quiet, bisexual office secretary. Russell T. Davies, the Welsh writer who resurrected the Doctor Who franchise and moved it to Cardiff, has said it was his “ambition that BBC Wales should come to be seen as a centre of excellence for drama”. With five consecutive National Television Awards as best drama, and successful spinoffs like Torchwood and children’s show, The Sarah Jane Adventures, it’s clear that Doctor Who is more than just a late-night escape for crazy cultists. And as the latest Doctor’s adventures are beamed into living rooms around the world this month, I’ll be scoping the scenes for my favourite corners in Cardiff.   WHO HOTSPOTS: The Doctor Who Up Close exhibition is open daily from 10 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. in the Red Dragon Centre, Cardiff Bay. Entrance fee is £5 – about $8 U.S. - the wristband is valid for re-entry all day. www.doctorwhoexhibitions.com <http://www.doctorwhoexhibitions.com>    You can travel through virtual space to learn more about Doctor Who and Torchwood. Visit the BBC’s official Doctor Who website at www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/dw <http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/dw> where you can fly the TARDIS in a Doctor Who game, create your own comic, and learn about the upcoming Eleventh Hour season premiere.   There are plenty of fan sites for Doctor Who fanatics. Listen to the Doctor Who pod cast at www.gallifreyanembassy.org <http://www.gallifreyanembassy.org>  Join a Doctor Who chat or forum at www.drwho-online.co.uk <http://www.drwho-online.co.uk>  Or visit the Doctor Who Information Network at www.dwin.org <http://www.dwin.org>  Gallefrey One, the largest Doctor Who convention in the U.S., is held in February ( gallifreyone.com)   The new series premieres in Britain on BBC April 3, and on BBC America April 17 (8 p.m./7C).  
©Cinda Chavich 2010
www.tastereport.com

ALICE’S TEA PARTY PUB: The Wonderland of Leith

Sat, 20 Mar 2010 06:58:16 -0700

By CINDA CHAVICH
(from the Globe and Mail)

(Edinburgh, Scotland) – If ever there was a wonderfully topsy-turvy pub for girls like Alice, it would be the Roseleaf Bar and Café in Leith.
Squeezed in around a tag-sale table, in a cosy back corner of this local pub, we took our “tea” in a motley collection of vintage china tea cups, filled with ice and classic cocktail garnishes, and delivered by a handsome young bartender.
“When you order two or more of the same drink, we bung them in a tea pot,” says publican Jonny Kane, concocting his signature “pot-tails” in an array of old tea pots behind a bar bristling with local beer taps. “It’s not designed to put off men, but it is a pub for mostly females.”
On this side of the pond, we’re famed for serving tea, but booze in tea pots usually falls into the realm of the unlicensed Chinese restaurant.
Here at Scotland’s quirky little Roseleaf pub, they offer a tea party like no other. You can order vodka and homemade lemonade with rose water (a Rose Water O’Leith), a Chambord, bubbly and passion fruit liqueur Fruit Tingle, or even a muddle of their homemade ginger beer and rum, served over ice in an old-fashioned cup and saucer – and poured from a flowery porcelain pot.
In winter there are steamy “pot-toddies” or even “pot shots” – four or eight shots of your favourite shooters, served in a pot with tiny espresso cups – and in summer, pots of boozy punch. They do their “adult high tea” any time, or you can book their Mad Hatter’s Tea Party, complete with “sandwiches and fairy cakes” (cupcakes), and a selection of wacky antique hats to wear to enhance the mad, girly mood.
Kane and his wife Lyn revived the historic Black Swan pub in the once crime-ridden port area of Leith (think Trainspotting) by filling it with eclectic antiques and serving a family-friendly all day menu featuring locally-sourced, organic foods, from Funky Beans on Organic Toast with a free range egg for breakfast, to a Ploughman’s Platter with their own spicy onion jam and pickled shallots.
While the drugs and prostitution are gone, the burly ex-Navy man says Leith still has its edge, and that’s what makes it an interesting neighborhood to explore. A short 10-minute drive from downtown Edinburgh, the old seaport is now a hip corner of town, where old stone whisky bonds (warehouses) have been repurposed into chic flats and offices that look out across the Firth of Forth. Now you can bed down in the cool Malmaison Hotel (once a seamen’s hostel) or dine at The Kitchin, chef Tom Kitchin’s stylish one-star Michelin restaurant on the water’s edge.
“It’s only in the last very few years that the ladies of the night disappeared but things have really been cleaned up,” says Kitchin, serving a perfect appetizer of local razor clams (spoots) and squid, garnished with sweet slivers of dried lime, and crisply fried filets of red mullet with salty samphire and bright green peas in an intense langoustine broth.
“The place was pretty run down and rough - I imagine they’d be very surprised to see foie gras in Leith,” he adds, “but there’s been a phenomenal revolution here.”
There’s nothing rough or seedy about the dockside streets any more – The Water of Leith Walkway skirts the Pentland hills, following the river’s edge through the city. At the nearby Ship on the Shore, diners crowd outdoor tables along the street, downing platters of fresh oysters, big bowls of steamy local mussels, Scottish lobster, scallops and Arbroath Smokies, with bottles of house champagne.
“Leith is actually like a small town, attached to Edinburgh, with a funkier, more youthful feel to it,” says Kitchin of this eclectic corner of the city by the sea.
The Royal Yacht Britannia is now permanently moored here, and at the Royal Deck Tea Room, you can peek into the lives of the rich and famous, or stop for a cuppa. But it’s not as much fun as the boozy pot-tails at Kane’s Roseleaf.
“It’s a bohemian area, and we try to shake every stigma,” he says, draining another fruity concoction into a mismatched cup and saucer.
Whether you’re looking for fresh seafood, chic shops or funky local pubs that offer topsy turvy tea, Leith is a wonderland for wandering. Alice would approve.

A MAD WORLD OF HIGH TEA
It all started in Britain, but high tea is all the rage in Canada. Here are some cool places to plan a tea party:

Fairmont Empress Hotel, Victoria
Take afternoon tea in the majestic lobby of this Victoria hotel – try their own Empress Blend or imported teas from Assam, Jenya, Ceylon and China. There’s even a Princess Tea especially for little Alices.

The Wedgewood Hotel, Vancouver
The Wedgewood hosts its Royal Afternoon Tea every Saturday and Sunday afternoon between 2 and 4 p.m. in its opulent Bacchus Lounge. Come for the tea, and the pastry chef’s lemon chiffon cake with white chocolate ganache.

Rocky Mountaineer, Vancouver to Whistler
Nothing could be more spectacular than the view of British Columbia’s coastal mountains and rugged coast while taking afternoon tea on this comfortable train from Whistler to Vancouver. Save room for scones with clotted cream and lemon tarts.

Le Meridien King Edward Hotel, Toronto
From pastries to finger sandwiches, raspberry sandwich cookies and lavender-scented madeleines, The King Eddie does afternoon tea to a T.
IF YOU GO:

Air Canada flies direct to London from major Canadian cities, and you can carry on to Edinburgh on British Airways or BMI, or take the four-hour train trip, direct from London’s King Cross to Waverly station.
Leith Walk is the main road that leads out of downtown Edinburgh to Leith, once a separate community, and site of the dockyards, but now a trendy, gentrified neighborhood. It’s just 10 minutes from the Royal Mile by car or local bus.

EAT:
Roseleaf Bar Café – An institution in Leith, the Roseleaf is the perfect pub for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and of course, tea. The comfort food menu is fresh and local (smoked cheddar mac and cheese, creamy Cullen Skink or homemade scones and jam) and the creative cocktails are served in garage sale china. Mingle with the locals after work in the front – standing room only – or sneak into the back for a cosy table.
23-24 Sandport Place, Edinburgh, www.roseleaf.co.uk

The Kitchin – Chef Tom Kitchin’s theme is “from nature to plate” and you’ll find few Scots doing the locovore thing better. Personable and passionate, he was awarded a Michelin star six months after opening, for his modern Scottish cuisine that’s driven by seasonal freshness and a real love of good cooking. A stylish room in a converted whisky warehouse.
78 Commercial Quay, Leith, Edinburgh www.thekitchin.com

The Ship on the Shore –Murray Georgeson specializes in fresh Scottish seafood at this casual spot (Tom Kitchin’s family go-to place) with piles of fresh mussels and chunky chips, fluffy fish cakes, fat Skye langoustines, Arbroath smokies and creamy fish chowder. Wash it down with a beer in the pub-like dining room, or enjoy it all at a street-side patio table, overlooking the Water of Leith.
24-26 The Shore, Leith, Edinburgh www.theshipontheshore.co.uk

SLEEP:
Malmaison Hotel, Leith – This stylish boutique hotel in the historic red brick Seaman’s Mission - a former hostel for sailors - overlooking the docks along the Firth of Forth, has a cool, sexy vibe. It’s right in the centre of town and there’s a great little brasserie/bar with a view to the water, and just 100 compact rooms dressed in rich fabrics and colors. Pick up a walking tour card at the front desk and hit the town, or check out the selection of wine and beer at the sexy bar.
1 Tower Place, Leith, Edinburgh, Edinburgh@malmaison.com

Hotel Missoni – If you want to take it up a notch, stay at the five-star, uber-chic Missoni overlooking the Royal Mile in Edinburgh. Clad in wood and sandstone panels, with a black and white interior, shot with the Italian fashion designer’s bold colours and fabrics, it’s an architectural marvel and a fashion statement. Newly opened, it’s the first Missoni hotel among a planned 30 worldwide. Meet beautiful people at the bar or check Roy Brett’s new restaurant, Ondine, with its curved crustacean bar and platters of fresh-caught fish.
1 George IV Bridge, Edinburgh www.hotelmissoni.com

OTHER SPOTS FOR BOOZY TEA PARTIES:
The Carreg in Pembrokeshire melds the customary 5 o’clock tea tradition with the modern after-work cocktail, with it’s cocktails in tea pots (a hangover from Prohibition, they say). www.thecarregrestaurant.co.uk

Bond 45, a modern, masculine-looking bar and steak house at National Harbour in Maryland, is channeling the New York, Prohibition-era speakeasy with its period cocktails served in antique tea pots. www.bond45.com

The High Tea Lounge at the Loft in Sydney, Australia. This upscale cocktail bar perched high about the Sydney waterfront serves teapot cocktails like Earl Grey spiked with almond vodka and apricot brandy, with canapés and sweets, on weekend afternoons. theloftsydney.com

©Cinda Chavich 2010
www.tastereport.com

unusual suspects: hidden food finds at the vancouver olympics

Tue, 16 Feb 2010 07:37:34 -0800

Gold medal plates
The Globe and Mail

By Cinda Chavich, The Globe and Mail Posted Friday, February 12, 2010 3:31 PM ET

There's no doubt Vancouver is a hot dining destination - Epicurious named it the top food city for 2010 - but when you're rushing between Olympic venues, with nary a private invitation to the hot spots, where's a fan to refuel?
Here are some hidden gems to hit around the venues when you're hungry:  CANADA PLACE/B.C. PLACE
The downtown hockey and ceremony sites sit between trendy Yaletown, Chinatown and historic Gastown - great neighbourhoods for excellent eats.
 Stop at bakeries or take-out windows in Chinatown for onion pancakes and steamy barbecue pork buns. Duck into Hon's Wun-Tun House for filling bowls of noodle soup, or find a seat at massive Floata Seafood Restaurant - Canada's largest Chinese eatery with 1,000 seats (www.floata.com). Go for edgier modern Chinese - like a pumpkin purple yam shiitake spring roll - at Wild Rice (www.wildricevancouver.com)
UVA Wine Bar is a great espresso bar by day and a hot spot for late nigh small plates, charcuterie and an excellent wine list. For after-hours Asian (and "cold tea" - beer in a pot), hit Tsui Hang Village - still open at 3 a.m.
Or take the late night Izakaya Crawl between Japanese pubs, like Zakkushi for grilled pork skewers with garlic scapes (www.sakkushi.com), Gyoza King dumplings or stylist Kingyo (www.kingyoizakaya.com) for stone-grilled Kobe beef and Japanese tuna pizza.
And if all else fails, line up at the Japa Dog cart (www.japadog.com) downtown on Burrard, or at two other locations, for a gourmet Kurobuta pork hot dog, smothered in tasty stuff such as crunchy daikon radish, seaweed and miso gravy.  PACIFIC COLISEUM
The Pacific Coliseum hosts figure skating and short-track speed skating, and is close to Commercial Drive, where you'll find an international vibe (www.thedrive.ca).
Pack a picnic with fresh produce from local organic markets and seriously smoky housemade charcuterie from J, N&Z Deli. You’ll have your fill of fine Italian pastries at Fratelli Bkaery (www.frattellibakery.com) or deke down Venebles to Uprising Breads for grainy artisan loaves.
The haughty baristas behind the coffee bar at Caffé Calabria have been pulling espressos for 34 years, and it's a trip to sit among the cheesy life-size statuary in this old-time Italian café (www.caffecalabria.com).
Havana has Cuban-fusion food and a popular all-weather patio (www.havanarestaurant.ca), while Me & Julio does modern Mexican - try the pulled beef brisket taquitos (www.meandjulio.ca).
If you have little ones in tow, don't miss Little Nest, a mommy haven with kid-friendly fruit fries with yogurt dip and bow tie pasta with tomato sauce on the menu, lots of high chairs, and a place for them to play while you sip a fair-trade latte (littlenest.ca).  VANCOUVER OLYMPIC AND PARALYMPIC CENTRE  This new curling facility is between Cambie and Main, near the new Canada Line route and SoMa - the hip strip of South Main that's home to vintage shops and bohemian coffee bars.
You'll find serious Chinese dining at famed Sun Sui Wah Seafood Restaurant on Main (www.sunsuiwah.com), with its big geoduck clams or crab, live from the fish tanks. But when you're in a hurry, you'll also get bowls of cheap and delicious Chinese noodles at Legendary Noodle (also on Main, www.legendarynoodle.ca) or Hawker’s Delight.
Crave is a popular neighbourhood spot on Main, serving up local ingredients all day, whether you're craving eggs Benny with smoked salmon, mac and cheese or braised lamb shanks (www.craverestaurants.com).
For a toasty Mexican sandwich - like one stuffed with slow-roasted pork and creamy panela cheese - head to new Las Tortas on Cambie (www.lastortas.ca)
Habit (on Main, open to 2 a.m.) has late-night comforts such as Brie and carrot-filled perogies with caramelized onions, or Ocean Wise B.C. salmon with French lentils. Order the Bento Box mix-your-own cocktail, for a bit of fun (www.habitlounge.ca).
UBC - THUNDERBIRD ARENA
Ride the B-Line bus (#99) out to the UBC arena for hockey - and, en route, explore the eclectic dining options in the cool beachside community of Kitsilano, a neighbourhood filled with starving students and yoga-mat-toting mommies from tony Point Grey.
East is East has that "Kits" hippie-turned-yuppie vibe - a spot for exotic roti wraps, thalis and saffron cardamom tea to share with friends while sprawled among the cushions and candles. Try a steamy chai or free mango lassi from their streetside takeout window (www.eastiseast.ca).
Or visit Burgoo on West 19th to warm up with comforting homemade soups and stews like the namesake Kentucky Burgoo with tender beef, corn and lima beans (www.burgoo.ca)
Between hockey games, grab a coffee and lunch at the Wi-Fi-friendly campus hangout, The Beanery (tucked off the street among student housing). Breakfast en route might be at funky Mix: The Bakery (www.mixthebakery.com) - have a big healthy Karmic Orb cookie or bowl of homemade granola, or come for the big Waldorf salad sandwich.
Kibune Sushi (on Yew Street near Kits Beach) is a hidden gem sushi bar - try Hide Endo's Hiro Maki encircled in avocado or crunchy deep-fried prawn heads (www.kibune.com).
CYPRESS BOWL
Cypress Mountain is the site of freestyle skiing and snowboarding events. You won't find any restaurants on the hill, but you can dine in nearby North and West Van.
The SeaBus ferry from downtown Vancouver lands at the Lonsdale Quay market. Stop at tiny Little Tokyo Sushi Bar, George's Souvlaki for takeout, or have a hearty breakfast with locals at the All Day Café.
Tomahawk Restaurant, Vancouver's original drive-in, opened in 1926, and with its lunch counter and native artifacts on display, it's a funky place for fast fuelling, whether you have the huge double-smoked bacon and organic eggs breakfast, or one of its legendary burgers (www.tomahawkrestaurant.com).
Savary Island Pie Company, on Marine Drive, is a great little bakery cafe with fabulous fresh pies, from lemon buttermilk with berries to savoury tourtiere.  RICHMOND OLYMPIC OVAL
The ultramodern Olympic Oval hosts long-track speed skating in Richmond, a city with a thriving Chinese community and more than 200 authentic Asian restaurants.
At the formal Shiang Garden Seafood Restaurant (at 4540 No. 3 Road), order pastel pink shrimp dumplings or vegetarian dumplings, filled with watercress and Chinese radish, and pan-fried onion pancakes to wrap around sliced rare beef in oyster sauce.
Shanghai River is the place for juicy and authentic Shanghai pork dumplings and hand-pulled noodles - get a table near the glassed-in kitchen and watch the cooks fold dumplings.
Posh (1123-3779 Sexsmith Rd.) is a modern sukiyaki-style hot pot restaurant. Cook your own selection of organic vegetables and meats in a bubbling sweet soy broth - an all-you-can-eat bargain at $11.88 (www.303posh.com).
Head to Steveston, a former fishing village, for Pajo’s classic fish and chips, wrapped in a paper cone on the docks, and visit the uncompromising Nicolai at Romania Country Bread, for organic artisan loaves from his own hand-built brick oven.  WHISTLER
The site of skiing and sliding events is also a food lover's paradise, but even if you can't get a table at Araxi or Bearfoot Bistro, you'll be well fed. Whistler's "après" scene is legendary, and you'll find BIG breakfasts to fuel its young, athletic locals all day.
Gather with locals at Elements for après drinks and creative tapas, or, first thing in the morning, for variations on eggs Bennie and crispy potato rosti tarts with crème fraîche. The eggs bennie are also legendary at Eva’s Riverside Cafe (www.riversidecafe.ca).
Gone Bakery - literally hidden behind a local bookstore in the Village Square - has excellent coffee, huge muffins and hearty soups. Or squeeze into a corn at Ingrid’s Deli, across the street from Araxi, for breakfast wraps, veggie burgers, perogies, big gooey Nanaimo bars and her famous French onion soup. (www.ingridswhistler.com).
For the most affordable sushi in town, locals lineup at Samarai Sushi (fast take-out counter) in Creekside. Or you can head to Splitz Grill, home of giant gourmet burgers of all kinds (beef, chicken, lamb, veggie, salmon) topped with anything from baba ganoush to sauerkraut (www.splitzgrill.com).
And check out the indigenous eats at the Squamish Lil'Wat Cultural Centre's café, where you can try smoked salmon and bannock wraps, venison chili and traditional wild soapberry juice (www.slcc.ca).  
Special to The Globe and Mail

©Cinda Chavich 2010
www.tastereport.com

First Nations art, inside and out

Thu, 4 Feb 2010 15:40:13 -0800

First Nations art - read the full feature here

Cinda Chavich
British Columbia — From Saturday's Globe and Mail
Published on Friday, Jan. 29, 2010 5:10PM EST

VANCOUVER INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT With its commitment to First Nations art and ongoing scholarship program, YVR has one of the most impressive public collections of aboriginal art. From Bill Reid's monumental bronze Jade Canoe (depicted on the Canadian $20 bill) and Joe David's Welcome Figures to Susan A. Point's massive, 5-metre Flight Spindle Whorl and rotating exhibits in cases in the international terminal, there are more than 180 sculptures, carvings, masks, poles, panels, paintings and weavings to see. Visit the YVR website for a map. yvraf.com/art
STANLEY PARK There are nine totem poles in Totem Park, just off the seawall at Brockton Point, carved between 1955 and 2009 by some of the province's most influential carvers. Poles here represent a variety of First Nations, from the killer whale and thunderbird of the Chief Wakas Kwakiutl pole (a copy of a pole raised in Alert Bay in the 1890s), to Norman Tait's Nisga'a beaver crest pole and Bill Reid's Haida mortuary pole.
MUSEUM OF ANTHROPOLOGY The MOA, on the University of British Columbia campus in Vancouver, is the premier place to view Northwest Coast art and artifacts. Housed in a stunning space designed by Arthur Erickson, and with a vast collection, MOA initiated carving programs in the 1950s, restoring old poles and creating new ones. Don't miss the stunning yellow cedar carving The Raven and the First Men by Haida artist Bill Reid, depicting the Haida creation story. www.moa.ubc.ca
BILL REID GALLERY OF NORTHWEST COAST ART This downtown Vancouver gallery is both museum and art gallery, filled with the beautiful things the late Bill Reid created, from exquisite jewellery to carvings in wood, stone and precious metals, and rotating displays of contemporary West Coast aboriginal art. www.billreidgallery.ca
SQUAMISH LIL'WAT CULTURAL CENTRE This new museum in Whistler joins the two First Nations in the region under one roof, with traditional art, craft and artifacts including cedar baskets, button blankets and massive carved spindle whorls depicting the history of weaving here. The SLCC Café features First Nations cuisine, from venison chili to bannock panini sandwiches. www.slcc.ca
'KSAN VILLAGE MUSEUM A living museum and cultural centre, this historical First Nations village in Hazelton is open for tours with local guides. Complete with several longhouses with decorated house fronts, totem poles and artifacts, it offers a glimpse into early Gitxsan village life. www.ksan.org
MUSEUM OF NORTHERN B.C. In Prince Rupert, you can see the work of many contemporary Haida and Tsimshian carvers, both in the stunning longhouse museum overlooking the waterfront and on street corners throughout the city. It's here you'll find original poles carved by important artists like Freda Diesing and Dempsey Bob. museumofnorthernbc.com
ROYAL BRITISH COLUMBIA MUSEUM The provincial museum in Victoria has a large collection of carvings, masks, artifacts and both historic and contemporary poles, some inside the museum building, some outdoors in Thunderbird Park. Don't miss Mungo Martin's raven masks in the First Peoples Gallery and the traditional longhouse. royalbcmuseum.bc.ca
KITSELAS CANYON This newly established national historic site is another recreated village, just east of Terrace, complete with carved poles (right) and longhouses, displays of carving and weaving, and tours for the public. Tsimshian First Nations have occupied this site for more than 10,000 years. kitselas.bc.ca
Special to The Globe and Mail
©Cinda Chavich
www.tastereport.com

HISTORIC TOTEMS AND TODAY’S CRAFTSMEN

Thu, 4 Feb 2010 09:57:34 -0800

Cinda Chavich
TERRACE, B.C. —
Published on Friday, Jan. 29, 2010 5:11PM EST

It's dark and drizzling when I finally reach the village of Gitanyow, but the dull weather can't blunt the striking scene before me. Here, alongside the muddy main road, stand more than 20 weathered totem poles, the carved crests and lineage of families who have lived here for centuries. While it's impressive to see these stark sentinels in any setting – whether in a museum, art gallery or urban park – the chance to view the poles in situ, in the First Nations community where they belong, is both wonderful and humbling.
And in this isolated Gitksan village, in northern British Columbia, I'm among some of the oldest standing poles in the world.
“This one is from 1760, this 1880, and 1910,” says hereditary chief and local museum curator Deborah Good, as we walk among the remains of the weathered wooden figures, many which had been left to rot on the ground before this small museum was opened in 2008.

Carving a new chapter
See pictures of contemporary B.C. totems and craftspeople at work
View photos
While Terrace, with its abundance of community galleries, carving sheds and museums, is the best place to explore the First Nations' carving tradition, it's here in Gitanyow (a.k.a. Kitwancool) and neighbouring Kispiox, that Canadian artist Emily Carr came to paint the totem poles of the northwest coastal people nearly a century ago. She saw the faces of the wolf, the frog and mountain eagle entangled in the encroaching temperate rain forest, and depicted many poles in her art, including the oldest Hole-in-Ice (or Hole-in-Sky) pole, standing in this spot for more than 140 years.
“She spent some time with my great grandparents, in 1928,” says Good, pointing out the corner of the museum dedicated to Carr and the whimsical frogs – the crest of the local Frog Clan – encircling a ragged segment of one of the oldest poles.
The row of traditional longhouses that Carr saw, framing this forest of towering carved cedars in Gitanyow, has been replaced by a motley collection of 20th-century bungalows, but it's still an iconic spot to see this ancient art form.
“These poles are land and property deeds – the poles tell the story of where the people originated from, and how the land was given,” Good explains. In the collecting frenzy of the 1800s, Gitksan poles were taken to museums in Vancouver, Ottawa, Boston and Philadelphia, she says, but somehow these remained untouched.
And somehow, in small pockets of the province – like here along the interior reaches of the Skeena and Nass Rivers – the tradition of carving survived, despite nearly a century of suppression. In 1884, Prime Minister John A. Macdonald banned the potlatch feasts and dances, the centre of the coastal peoples' unique social and legal system. Many poles were removed, toppled, even burned, and the skill of carving such ceremonial articles all but disappeared. By 1951, when the ban on the potlatch was finally lifted, only a few carvers remained.
Survival and revival The artists we know today – Mungo Martin, Bill Reid, Freda Diesing – had to comb the world's museums to learn about their ancestral crests and carving styles. But thanks to these stalwarts, and their apprentices, West Coast Native art and culture is again alive in towns and villages from Haida Gwaii to Prince Rupert and Hazelton. You will still see old poles – and contemporary poles – standing in communities like Kitselas, New Aiyansh, Canyon City and Kitsumkalum not as museum pieces, but to tell clan stories, claim property rights and mark local events as they have for centuries.
At the 'Ksan Historical Village near Hazelton, high above the banks of the Skeena and Bulkley rivers, there are several reconstructed buildings where young guides describe 1870s aboriginal life inside smoky cedar long houses. There's a forest of poles here, too – many carved by the generation of artists who helped resurrect the art form in the 1960s and '70s.
Historians believe the first free-standing poles were raised by inland Tsimshian, Gitksan and Nisga'a families in the area around Terrace. So it's not surprising that this is where the art of carving is finding new acolytes.
The next generation At the Northwest Community College, Latham Mack sits behind his drafting table, pencil poised over a drawing of a stylized bear, the kind that may some day wrap around the surface of a bentwood box.
The 23-year-old artist is one of 24 students at the Freda Diesing School of Northwest Coast Art, the only accredited coastal First Nations fine arts program in Canada. Students learn the fundamentals of designing with the traditional ovoid shapes, how to make tools and develop basic carving skills, under the hands-on tutelage of artists Stan Bevan and Ken McNeil, and master carver Dempsey Bob.
Along with two of the other students here, Mack has just won an important scholarship: His carved Thunder mask will be displayed at Vancouver's international airport, part of the impressive collection of First Nations art that welcomes travellers.
While the Diesing school only opened in 2006, graduates are already mentoring others and creating new works. Visitors will see a flurry of building and carving activity in the area – from the new crest poles and painted longhouses at the Kitselas Canyon historic site, to a Nisga'a project to carve four massive canoes, and a spectacular longhouse under construction at NWCC.
In the Wilp Simgan carving space below the historic George Little house in Terrace, you'll find artists like Todd Stephens and Henry Lincoln at work, carving boxes and creating paintings in bold traditional black and red. Four members of the school's first graduating class also carved two poles raised at the new Terrace Sportsplex, and recently opened their own gallery and studio space, The House of Carvers, where I found Henry Kelly and Geo (George) McKay at work.
“For me, carving is therapy – it gives me peace and serenity,” explains McKay, a mask emerging from a piece of yellow cedar in his hands, the aroma of wood shavings in the air. “It's not about me, it's about promoting our people and our culture. It's like a poster reminding us where we are and where we are going, and it's an honour for me to be part of that.”
Olympic flavour In one of the new longhouses at Kitselas Canyon, artist Dean Heron, another Freda Diesing School alumnus, is with his mentor, Stan Bevan, discussing the eagle, wolf, raven and killer whale clan crest poles they carved together, and the huge panels he is painting for the interior of the college's new longhouse. Heron's art was selected by the Vancouver Olympic Committee for the Cypress Mountain Olympic venue. His massive installation – painted across 20 canvases and representing a huge snowboard decorated with historic paddle designs – will be a permanent fixture at the ski resort which hosts 2010 Olympic freestyle and snowboard events.
In fact, First Nations art will be prominent in Olympic venues around the province, with 90 aboriginal artists commissioned by VANOC to create new artworks for display.
Visitors to Vancouver can't help but be impressed by the aboriginal art aesthetic here – from the collection of First Nations public art at Vancouver's YVR to the totem poles of Stanley Park and the haunting imagery of Emily Carr's paintings hanging in the Vancouver Art Gallery. Coastal art seems ubiquitous, the stylized imagery borrowed by local fashion designers and jewellery makers, and seen on everything from logos and T-shirts to coffee mugs. But, despite its growing popularity and commercialization, it's the cultural and spiritual side of the art that matters in small Native communities such as Greenville (Laxgalts'ap).
Ancient tradition In this Nisga'a village near Terrace, internationally renowned master carver Alver Tait is overseeing a monumental carving project, fashioning a 40-foot red cedar log into a massive canoe. It's the first canoe to be created here in a century, one of four to be carved with the help of 20 local youth, in a project designed to help them reconnect with elders and reclaim their traditional culture.
Tait shows me a photograph of the harvesting ceremony – he's standing before a massive tree in the rain forest, wrapped in his traditional button blanket regalia. “When I harvest the trees, I thank the creator and talk to the tree – promise to make something beautiful of it, and not waste it,” he says.
Though it's fascinating to see First Nations totems anywhere in the world, it's inspiring to visit communities like these, where the tradition of carving is being passed to a new generation.
“It's comforting to know you've accomplished so much,” says the Nisga'a elder. “You're leading your nation out of the darkness and into the light.”

This story appeared in the Globe and Mail

©Cinda Chavich
www.tastereport.com

Bargain barbados

Thu, 14 Jan 2010 11:26:26 -0800

By CINDA CHAVICH

There’s something about the first onslaught of prairie winter that triggers my Caribbean dreams, and there may be no better year than this one to explore an upscale isle like Barbados.
Barbados definitely has loads of luxury (the only island with it’s own AAA and Zagat guides) but it’s also one of the easiest for budget travel. There’s a great infrastructure here – a hangover from more than 300 years of British rule – so you’ll find clean, drinkable tap water and good local buses, along with excellent small hotels, many offering special discounts.
Beyond the beautiful beaches, it’s the friendly Bajan people who will really make your island stay memorable, and staying “small” is the best way to meet the locals.

STAY
Barbados is all about the beach, so the best way to save big is to find a small all-inclusive hotel on a nice stretch of white sand, and simply relax, because the perfect weather and clear blue sea is the same no matter where you stay.
While the west “platinum” coast, with its flat water and posh resorts, is truly spectacular (think swanky Sandy Lane or the Fairmont Royal Pavilion), I found soft surf and serenity at the modest Sea Breeze Beach Hotel (www.sea-breeze.com) on Maxwell Beach, along the island’s southern shore.
While you won’t find acres of grounds, Michelin-star dining or luxury amenities here, the recently-renovated property has comfortable rooms with free wi-fi and good food. Friendly Jamal always had a lounge chair and umbrella ready for me on the white sand beach, while chatty Gordon and Wavell made wicked rum punch, and Judy delivered perfect made-to-order omelets every morning.
Considering the price is around $300 per couple per day, including unlimited drinks, decent buffet meals and two dinners in the upscale Azul restaurant on the property, it makes an affordable getaway.
For a change of scenery, it’s a five-minute cab ride (about $10) to St. Lawrence Gap, a busy area filled with restaurants and clubs, or a 30-minute ride into Bridgetown for duty-free shopping (save on lunch at the Balcony Restaurant in the Cave Shepherd department store).
A New Yorker I met was staying at the nearby Bougainvillea Beach Resort, where you can trade the meal plan for an apartment with a full kitchen ($180/night for the studio or $240 for one-bedroom). Head to the well-stocked Super Centre supermarket in Oistins to fill the fridge (and for bargain beer and rum), or get fresh local ingredients at the Cheapside Market in Bridgetown, then eat in.

EAT AND DRINK
Speaking of eating, Barbados is famed for its selection of fine restaurants – although many are pricey.
Your best bet for budget dining is eating what the locals eat, lots of fresh fish and traditional Bajan dishes like rice and peas, cou-cou (a kind of polenta with okra), cheesy macaroni pie, grilled chicken, and fried flying fish, the small fish that can literally fly out of the sea on its winged fins.
You’ll find this kind of fare in the little rum shops around the island – they’re the one’s painted like Mount Gay Rum or Banks beer billboards.
Or take in a local tradition, the Sunday lunch buffet after church – all-you-can-eat local specialties like chicken and pumpkin soup with chewy dumplings and tender roast pork with cracklings. Brown Sugar or The Ship Inn are both good places to try.
The weekend Fish Fry in the fishing village of Oistins is another classic spot for a low-cost Bajan feast. Pick one of a dozen colourful little fish shacks (Margaret’s and George’s are excellent), and get any kind ofgrilled fish, fresh from the local waters, literally piled on a paper plate with sides of salad, macaroni pie, and rice for about 10 bucks. Find a picnic table, and stay on for the local dance party.
If you’re after a casual steak dinner, Just Grillin’ serves grilled sirloin with potato and Caesar salad for just $17, (plus burgers and grilled fish) at Quayside Centre (www.justgrillinbarbados.com). Patisserie Flindt has top notch take-out, and Fisherman’s Pub in Speightstown is a famed local hangout.
Chefette is Barbados’ own fast food chain, with good chicken and take-out rotis. The Ackee Tree is known for huge its rotis, but the best are made from scratch by LaurelAnn Morley at The Cove, near Bathsheba.
St. Lawrence Gap – with its plethora of pubs and clubs – is the place to practice your “wukking up”, that gyrating hip thrusting dance that Bajans do so well. Start at Café Sol for drinks, then head to the Ship Inn where local bands groove the night away. The excellent local rums from Cockspur’s or Mount Gay– smooth and well-aged – are best buys.

EXPLORE
Traveling by local bus is the cheapest way to get around the island – it’s 75 cents a ride, no matter how far you go. There are big blue city-style buses, plus privately run medium sized yellow buses or small white vans (a.k.a. boogie buses) that you can flag down for the same price. If a van looks overcrowded, which they often are, just wave them on – another will be by soon.
The blue government buses stop at bus stops, and all routes begin in the bus depot in downtown Bridgetown, heading in various directions around the island, with no destination more than an hour away.
All of Barbados’ beaches have public access, so pack a picnic and take your pick.
Rockley (a.k.a. Accra) Beach is a popular south shore beach, lined with shady casuarina trees and beach-side vendors, where the new Barbados Boardwalk begins. It’s great for an early morning or sunset stroll along the turquoise sea (www.barbadosboardwalk.com)
We bussed out to posh Crane Beach – named one of the world’s top ten beaches – for a picnic. Take the “Sam Lord’s Castle” route from Bridgetown, a 30-minute ride past the airport to Cutter’s deli, where you can get an awesome flying fish sandwich (a.k.a. cutter) and their famous V.S.R.P (very special rum punch). Walk a block down to the stunning Crane Beach, enjoy your picnic on the rocks, then stroll along the pink sand, take the elevator up to the cliff-side resort, and shop in the new village of elegant shops or have a drink at the bar. It’s a great way to enjoy the place without paying the luxury resort price.
Hikers can take the “Sturges” bus to Welchman Hall Gully, a park in the centre of the island, to hike through a tropical forest and spot the island’s long-tailed green monkeys feeding in banana trees ($10 admission). Or join the free National Trust hikes every Sunday morning, covering a different part of the island each week (Barbados National Trust, 246-426-2421)
The spectacular east coast and Bathsheba Beach is another good destination for scenery, crashing waves and surfing if you’re skilled (international surfing competitions are held here). You can hike a rugged trail, 6 km from Ragged Point to Consett Bay, or do lunch at The Cove (246-433-9495).

IF YOU GO:
Both Air Canada and WestJet fly non-stop from Toronto to Barbados. Air Canada celebrates 60 years of flights to Barbados with $60 off flights until March 31, one-way fares as low at $339 from Calgary, and one-week vacation packages from$1,640 pp. www.aircanadavacations.com
www.westjet.com

The four-star, all-inclusive Almond Resorts has a Canadian Beach Sale with up to 50% off rates for 2010, starting from $215 Cdn pp. Elegant Hotels are offering 20-40% discounts at their hotels (including the all-inclusive Turtle Beach resort). www.eleganthotels.com

Totally Barbados (www.totallybarbados.com), and www.cheapcaribbean.com are great places to look for deals.
Or check the tourist board, www.visitbarbados

©Cinda Chavich
www.tastereport.com

Where the grizzlies (still) Roam

Fri, 18 Sep 2009 16:02:28 -0700

SMITH INLET, B.C. — From Saturday's Globe and Mail
Last updated on Friday, Sep. 18, 2009 05:31PM EDT
Our guide cuts the motor and steers the flat-bottomed aluminum boat into a narrow channel of the estuary.
We float slowly past the gnarled roots of a fallen cedar, its rain-soaked trunk a burnished bronze sculpture, bare branches curving skyward like the ribs of a skeletal whale.
The forest is dark and thick, moss-draped branches almost grazing the gunwales. Here, in the heart of the Great Bear Rainforest, a grizzly may appear at any moment – at least, that's what we're all hoping.
Dusk settles around us. It's eerily quiet as we bob between two shores waiting for something to emerge from the tangled woods.
“This is bear-o-rama,” whispers our guide, Blakeley Adkins, standing in the stern, and manoeuvring our craft along with two creaking wooden oars. “When you see a bear in here, it's really close.”
While recent reports from bear-viewing guides farther up the B.C. coast suggest that this year's collapse of salmon populations might lead to widespread starvation among coastal grizzly and black bears, Tom Rivest, who runs Great Bear Nature Tours, is optimistic about the Smith Inlet bears.
This is perfect grizzly bear habitat. The steep walls of the fjord are nearly vertical, yet covered right to the waterline with towering red cedars, hemlock and Sitka spruce. Here, at the mouth of the river, layers of silt have formed a series of shallow islands covered in mounds of sedge, a grassy plant that is loaded with protein and perfect for a hungry bear emerging from its winter den.
Later in the summer, the bears can dine on root and berry appetizers and the fall brings a main course of spawning wild Pacific salmon. The salmon are vital to this rain-forest ecosystem, not only fattening bears for hibernation but feeding the soil with their decomposing carcasses. With salmon numbers dwindling, bears are threatened too.
This year, at Smith Inlet, the dry summer pushed the viewing season back by several weeks, but by mid-September Great Bear Lodge guests were seeing up to 20 grizzlies every day.
Floating in the middle of the grizzlies' fall feeding grounds, I'm holding my breath and wondering just what a grizzly might do if it came upon the six of us. The pink and chum salmon are beginning to run up the Nekite River and we're positioned to, hopefully, glimpse the local population of 40 or so grizzly bears gorging on the spawning hordes.
But after nearly three hours sitting here in the steady rain, watching the shores and gravel bars where the fish occasionally jump against the current, we spot a couple of seals, a merganser and a gangly great blue heron – but no grizzly bears.
Still, it's like entering an Emily Carr painting, a place so pristine that the bears literally outnumber the people. Great Bear is a small fly-in lodge for only 10 guests at a time who come to commune with grizzlies, the West Coast's most magnificent creatures.
Great Bear Lodge is a marvel in itself, a collection of floating buildings that comfortably house guests and staff, fully powered by a wind generator, solar panels and a micro-hydro plant that harnesses a small stream gurgling out of the trees behind the lodge. Energy is conserved at every juncture – power-guzzling appliances such as hair dryers and toasters are banned.
Smith Inlet is 80 kilometres by air from Port Hardy, and a difficult place to reach by boat, which is why there are no other tour operators here. Bears can be elusive in this vast, undisturbed maze of estuaries, inlets and dense rain forest, but that's a big part of the experience here.
And Rivest and his partner Marg Leehane work hard to keep it that way. They don't allow fishing at the lodge. They don't allow food in the boats or blinds while bear watching. And they are vigilant about garbage – every scrap is kept indoors until it can be flown out.
Just being here in Smith Inlet is a rare opportunity to glimpse the coastal temperate rain forest and all of its wild, rugged beauty. “It's pretty much an ecosystem that's undisturbed,” says Rivest, scanning the valleys shrouded in mist. “All of the creatures that were here originally are still here, and in good numbers.”
“The biggest threat to grizzly bears is salmon declines,” adds Rivest, who went to Norway as a representative of the Wilderness Tourism Association in 2007 to express concerns about the effects of fish farming on wild salmon stocks. “In our area, we have experienced, also, several years of depressed chum salmon returns.”
Yet, there are positive signs. This year's run is late, but “numbers of pink salmon in the river are up considerably over last year,” and berry crops are the best Rivest has seen since arriving in the valley five years ago. Still, the bear population in Smith Inlet is smaller today than it was in 2004 – about 40 compared with 60 individuals.
Bears adjust by producing fewer cubs in lean years – one cub instead of the triplets many sows have when food is abundant. Rivest says bears here aren't starving and numbers would recover “with a series of good years.”
“Of course, I am concerned that these diminished salmon returns could become the norm as that would eventually lower the bear population significantly,” he says, “though they would not go extinct.
“There will still be bears on the coast – bears can live without salmon – but they're much smaller, and there's not very many of them.”
And on our tour, we're yet to see the big grizzly beasts.
Between morning and evening boat tours, we hike along an abandoned logging road and through stands of young aspen and old growth calling “Hey Bear!” to let the residents know we're coming and tasting the same sweet thimble berries and huckleberries they enjoy.
Still no sign, but they're here. The evidence is all around us, from flattened “day beds” in the forest to berry-filled scat, Rivest explains as he leads us out to the bear blinds or “hides” he has built up on stilts next to prime bear viewing spots about 10 kilometres from the lodge. He has identified 40-odd individuals that frequent this corner of the Great Bear Rainforest, the largest intact chunk of temperate rain forest in the world.
“We call this the bear highway,” he says, pointing to a trail leading off at right angles, across a low pass into the adjacent valley. Rivest has set up remote motion-detecting cameras here, and in other prime wildlife corridors, observing a variety of grizzly bear behaviours, catching the elusive local wolves and cougars on video.
Rivest chucked his first career working as an engineer with IBM to follow his love of nature nearly 20 years ago. A keen wildlife photographer, he earned a master's degree in biology before working as a kayak guide and eventually creating his wildlife watching company with a few local partners. Now, he oversees a staff of keen young guides with biology training, who lead visitors on daily bear-viewing trips while offering an ongoing education in local flora and fauna.
In the lodge, with only five bedrooms, the atmosphere is intimate and cozy. At dinner, we gather around a big table for Allison Barnes's fine cooking – wild sockeye salmon smoked on alder planks, and tender braised lamb shanks infused with garlic and rosemary. I head out with Leehane to collect big Dungeness crabs from their trap and Barnes dispatches them, serving the fresh legs alongside her seafood paella, loaded with scallops, salmon and sweet B.C. spot prawns.
Out in the wild again, after many hours of bobbing in boats and waiting in blinds, we see our first grizzlies. It's not exactly the National Geographic moment I had been dreaming about, but it's thrilling to see them at the shoreline, scanning the water and turning over rocks, searching for food.
Our guide cuts the motor and we drift in the current, keeping a respectful distance. We stay out in the estuary, snapping photos with our telephoto lenses, the bears at first oblivious to our presence.
One is a young female, unknown to the guide. It disappears into the woods the moment it spots us, then appears again farther downstream. It works its way along the shore away from us, dipping into the shallows, balancing along the wet logs and searching for salmon. Later, there's a bigger honey-coloured bear, making its way along the edge of the sedge – a bear they have named Bo Diddley.
Rivest says the bears in the inlet learn not to fear humans when they're watched this way – which is why he and Leehane stay in their floating home over the winter months, guarding against poachers. For now, there is a moratorium on grizzly hunting in this part of the Great Bear Rainforest, but Rivest and other members of the Commercial Bear Viewing Association of British Columbia (of which Rivest is president) are lobbying to end trophy hunting of bears, a practice that continues in both Alberta and B.C. In 2008, 318 grizzly bears were legally shot in B.C. by hunters, with the provincial government collecting more than half a million dollars for the sale of grizzly hunting licences.
It's estimated there are now only 581 grizzlies in Alberta, and 16,000 in B.C., a number conservationists dispute. The grizzly is listed as “a species of special concern” but is not considered endangered, despite rapidly dwindling numbers.
Conservationists and wildlife guides seeing fewer and hungrier bears this year raised the alarm last week and called on the B.C. government to close all chum salmon fisheries and cancel the fall grizzly-bear hunt. But the province's Environment Minister, Barry Penner, is not alarmed: He asked ministry staff to update bear-population counts before drawing any conclusions or taking action to protect coastal grizzlies.
While observing bears does lead to a change in their behaviour, guides – including Rivest – argue that by watching wildlife we help to ensure its future protection.
On our final day at the lodge, with Rivest in tow, we bump through the forest in a big school bus and, at his first blind, come across a bear.
Standing high above the river, sheltered from the drizzle, we watch the young grizzly splashing through the fast-moving stream to search the gravel bar for fish. There are none spawning today, but we see the telltale signs, flashes of silver and concentric rings breaking the still pools.
An eagle cries and wheels overhead – like us extremely lucky humans, waiting and watching and hoping for a plentiful fall season with an abundance of healthy, spawning salmon.
* * *
Pack your bags
GETTING THERE Smith Inlet is 400 kilometres northwest of Vancouver. It's a 45-to-55-minute flight from Port Hardy, a community at the northern tip of Vancouver Island. From Vancouver, you can fly directly to Port Hardy, or take BC Ferries to Nanaimo, then drive north.
WHERE TO STAY Great Bear Lodge 1-888-221-8212; www.greatbeartours.com. The rooms in the floating lodge are compact but cozy – each with private half-bath (showers are downstairs). Food is fresh, local and organic, when available, and all meals and drinks, beer and wine are included. From $2,120 for a two-night fall tour to $3,610 for a four-night fall tour.
Special to The Globe and Mail
©Cinda Chavich
www.tastereport.com

Cycle of Life in Whistler

Tue, 15 Sep 2009 22:56:50 -0700

By Cinda Chavich
From Saturday's Globe and Mail
Last updated on Monday, Sep. 14, 2009 03:21AM EDT

Our send-off aboard the Whistler Mountaineer isn't particularly auspicious – we start our journey up B.C.'s scenic west coast in an industrial area of North Vancouver – but it's not long before we leave the rail yards behind, skirting the edge of Burrard Inlet along Marine Drive, the toniest of Vancouver neighbourhoods. Our pleasure train parallels the scenic but often-congested Sea to Sky Highway, offering a direct route from Vancouver to Whistler in luxurious but guilt-free style.
I am heading to Whistler to explore the endless bike trails (both easy and extreme), and the fresh, local food scene – but on the Mountaineer, getting there is part of the adventure. My seatmate, a businessman from Peru, is taking the return trip today strictly for the scenery. Beyond the vaulted Glacier Dome windows, there's nothing but mountains, sea and blue sky. Inside, it's the breakfast run; for the return trip in late afternoon, there's a classic tea service, with warm scones and clotted cream, dainty sandwiches, lemon tarts and pots of Earl Grey, Japanese sencha and Jasmine Butterfly. It's a civilized way to take in the spectacular views – rather like flying business class at sea level – and soon the car is buzzing with oohs and aahs in Japanese, German and a lilting Gallic brogue.
We rattle along through Porteau Cove, near the site of the massive rock slide that blocked Whistler's only road access for several days in 2008, and past the Furry Creek Golf and Country Club where Adam Sandler and Bob Barker sparred in Happy Gilmore. The views across Howe Sound near Squamish are some of the most scenic in the province.
The friendly staff point out the best bits– such as the “white witch” etched onto the vertical face of the granite monolith, Stawamus Chief, or the milky turquoise blue water rushing through Cheakamus Canyon.
As the train screeches across a high trestle bridge, we crowd around the open windows of the observation car to try to capture the drama of it all, but a photo is no match for the aroma of spruce trees and the thrilling vertigo as the train climbs across the Coast Mountains into the shiny new Whistler Mountaineer station.
From here, you can explore the Whistler “village” at the base of the famed Whistler-Blackcomb ski area, where the world will gather for the 2010 Olympic downhill sports. Whistler has been called “the best ski destination in North America,” but it's also one of the best places to explore by bike.
You can suit up in Darth Vader-like helmets and armour before hurtling straight down a vertical ski slope on two wheels, or join in on a recreational level by renting a bike (along with the requisite protective gear) from one of Whistler's many bike shops and learn to “rock hop” down a dry creek bed, or head off on one of the many trails that cut through the forest and parallel almost every roadway in the town.
Stay at Nita Lake Lodge, next to the new train station in Whistler's Creekside neighbourhood, and bike the four kilometres down to the busy pedestrian-only village, for restaurants and nightlife. Take the free local bus back if your legs give out – like the chairlifts that whisk you up to the Whistler Mountain Bike Park, Whistler buses are equipped with bike racks.
Accessing Whistler's rambling neighbourhoods by bike is not only convenient, it's a perfect way to work off all of the great food you'll be eating while you're here.
A top dining destination in Whistler is Araxi, the restaurant chef Gordon Ramsay recently declared the best place to eat in Canada, and which will employ his next Hell's Kitchen winner – rather ironic since the Ramsay survivor will have a new mentor in Araxi's executive chef James Walt, one of the nicest, and most talented, guys in the business.
Like many Whistler chefs, Walt turns to the nearby Pemberton Valley for the fresh, organic vegetables he showcases on his plates.
You, too, can go to the source – and a bike ride down the flat highway that bisects the wide, lush valley in search of farm-fresh food is worth its weight in calories consumed and burned.
At Across the Creek Organics, the Mount Currie Coffee Company and North Arm Farm, it's a kind of farmers' market on two wheels – cyclists can pack their panniers with freshly roasted coffee beans, bundles of fresh carrots and tiny eggplants before riding off to the next farm. (Alternatively, if the bike ride isn't for you, you can visit the Whistler Farmers Market on Sundays, where you'll find potatoes from Helmers' Organic Farm, fruits and vegetables, bison meat, honey, jams, teas, paintings and more.)
At North Arm Farm, I meet Jordan Sturdy, a ski patroller and organic farmer who supplies local chefs with all kinds of vegetables, including unusual items such as crosnes, black carrots, salsify and watermelon radishes. He also happens to be the mayor of Pemberton.
“People here have really embraced local and seasonal eating,” says Sturdy, walking me through his fields of fat pumpkins and sweet corn, “but it's not a hardship. We can grow almost anything here.”
Sturdy's farm store makes a great stop in this fertile mountain meadow, offering gooey butter tarts, pie or the opportunity to pat a pig and enjoy the views.
Back in Whistler, tired biking muscles need massaging and there's no better place for that than the spa at the Four Seasons Resort. I start working out the kinks with an aromatic steam inside my own canvas tent, breathing in relaxing cedar and juniper in a treatment that is reminiscent of an aboriginal sweat lodge. Afterward, the native theme continues over dinner – and chef Scott Thomas Dolbee's creative take on indigenous dishes, from gravlax perched on miniature bannock breads to cured bison carpaccio, pickled spruce tips and cedar jelly.
Like many hotels here, Four Seasons caters to bikers – with secure bike storage, a bike wash and tuning station, and a laundry to deal with your mud-crusted clothing.
Bikers need breakfast and before my next challenge, I follow the locals to Elements, a cozy spot where the variations of eggs Benny come atop portabello mushrooms, fresh crab or smoked salmon, with bottomless cups of coffee. It's what you'll need to steel yourself for a guided lesson on the gnarly downhill runs at the Whistler bike park.
Like ski runs, trails here are signed and rated – green, blue, black, double-black – and there are cattle guard “filters” so newbies don't end up on a slope that's too steep. Just throw your bike on a specially fitted chairlift and head up; if the pitch gets too scary, you can always get off and walk.
But don't worry if you show up for dinner scraped and bruised – biker war wounds are expected.
“Yeah, it was full contact, face to rock,” says Vanessa Murphy, sporting a shiner that elicits respect from other mountain bikers.
“Cool. Nice,” echoes Araxi waiter Andrew, displaying his own scabby road rash.
That's the thing about Whistler – everyone's active. From the pedestrian routes between the big hotels, shops and restaurants in the village to the many well-signed forest trails, it's natural to ditch the car. The urge to explore gets under your skin. The next morning, I grab a picnic lunch at the lodge deli and set off on the pathway that circles the lake for another spin before the train arrives.
My self-propelled holiday fits perfectly with Whistler's active vibe – and it helps justify those tea biscuits on the train home.
Special to The Globe and Mail
* * *
Pack your bags
GETTING THERE To Whistler The Whistler Mountaineer journeys between Vancouver to Whistler until Oct. 6. From $199 return. www.whistlermountaineer.com To Pemberton Pemberton is 35 kilometres north of Whistler on the Sea to Sky Highway 99.
WHERE TO STAY Nita Lake Lodge www.nitalakelodge.com. From $139. Boutique lodge near the train station, with an excellent restaurant (Jordan's Crossing) and well-appointed suites. Four Seasons Resort Whistler www.fourseasons.com/whistler. From $295. Luxury resort at the base of Blackcomb, with fine dining, a native-inspired spa and menu.
WHERE TO EAT Araxi 604-932-4540; www.araxi.com. Arguably the best place to eat in Canada – certainly the best in Whistler. Mount Currie Coffee Company 604-894-3388; www.mountcurriecoffee.com. This Pemberton stop offers baked goods, paninis, breakfast burritos, salads and more. Everything made on site, from scratch with local ingredients whenever possible.
FARM-FRESH FOOD North Arm Farm 604-894-5379; www.northarmfarm.com. Continue along Highway 99 from the Pemberton junction toward Lillooet for five kilometres. Watch for the North Arm Farm and the B.C. Grown signs on the south side of the road. Open daily from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. until Oct. 31, and only on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from Nov. 1 to Christmas. Helmers' Organic Farm www.helmersorganic.ca. Though the farm isn't open to the public, Helmers' produce is available at the farmers markets at Whistler and Kitsilano on Sundays, at Pemberton on Wednesdays, at Granville Island Public Market on Thursdays and at Trout Lake on Saturdays. Across The Creek Organics 8356 Meadows Rd., 11 kilometres north of Pemberton; 604-894-6463. Open weekdays 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Pemberton Farmers Market Wednesdays from 4 to 7 p.m. at the Legion.
ALL-SPEED CYCLING Want to speed straight down from the top of a mountain? Check out the Whistler Mountain Bike Park (www.whistlerbike.com), join a guided downhill biking lesson or get on one of the 200-plus kilometres of single- and double-track trails around town. Start with the 30-kilometre Valley Trail, then trade up to popular routes like Cut Yer Bars and Train Wreck. Dedicated enthusiasts may want to join the Whistler Offroads Cycling Association (www.worca.com ).
WHEELS It's easy to rent a bike in Whistler. Whether you want something built for cross-country trails, a gnarly downhill racer or just two wheels to explore the valley, there are many bike-rental shops in town offering the latest equipment.  Summit Sports www.summitsport.com. At the base of Whistler Mountain Bike Park, with family, trail and downhill mountain bikes. Book online for a 10-per-cent discount. The Bike Co. www.bikeco.ca. Shops in both Whistler and Pemberton; buy or rent equipment for your vacation. Whistler Bike www.whistlerbike.com. At the bike park, next to the Whistler Gondola. A high-performance bike and regular helmet can be rented for $100 a day. Add the Premium Armour Package, including arm, leg, glove, helmet and chest protection, for $40. A simpler Valley Bike rents for $40 for 24 hours. C.C
©Cinda Chavich
www.tastereport.com

Fish, cook, eat

Sat, 15 Aug 2009 12:37:27 -0700

You may not recognize these two top Vancouver chefs out of their whites, but that’s Dino Reinarts of Diva at the Met and David Hawskworth (Hawksworth at Hotel Georgia) heading out early to catch some salmon at the WCFC’s annual David Hawksworth and Friends getaway in the Queen Charlottes. This fall, they’ll also bring along chef Vikram Vij. And if you can’t make it in September, check out the culinary events all summer with chefs like Robert Belcham (Campagnolo and Fuel), Don Letendre (Elixer) and Dale Mackay (Lumiere) cooking at the luxury lodge.

Read my full account in the Calgary Herald...

TEACH A (WO)MAN TO FISH – trading places on a double-header dream vacation

By CINDA CHAVICH

(Queen Charlotte Islands, B.C.) – With the first wild spring salmon arriving in both streams and supermarkets, thoughts around here turn to fish, and fishing.
My husband and I see eye-to-eye on most topics, but when it comes to planning the perfect summer vacation, things can go sideways.
He imagines nothing better than a foggy morning with a fishing guide, reeling in a wild, fighting Sockeye or pretty rainbow trout. I’m thinking about fresh wild fish, too, but standing next to a top chef, learning to perfectly fry it up in the pan, or matching it with a crisp chardonnay.
If you think that means heading off on separate vacations, think again. We found vacation nirvana – and a new understanding of eachother’s passions – at the West Coat Fishing Club’s annual culinary weekend, four days of serious salmon fishing, combined with enough face time with top Vancouver chef David Hawksworth to learn everything about preparing it like a pro.
Our adventure starts like any good fishing trip, very, very early in the morning. But as we board a small jet in Vancouver to head to the Queen Charlotte Islands – arguably the best fishing grounds on the West Coast – there’s already something different. The club’s usual clientele is skewed heavily to the all-male demographic, but this group is mainly couples.
“We’re always looking for new things we can do together,” says Debbie Hendsbee who is here with her husband Gary Ostry. “We like to be doing some kind of activity, so we have stories. It’s not just travel, it’s an experience.”
When we land in the small Haida community of Masset, we’re met by a big Bell helicopter that ferries us the rest of the way to the isolated resort, perched high above the pristine waters around Langara Island. The other thing about the West Coast Fishing Club that’s immediately obvious – this ain’t no rough and ready boy’s club.
From the attentive staff to the well-appointed rooms – complete with down duvets, cosy bathrobes and female-friendly amenities like make-up remover – I feel instantly pampered. There’s even a small spa and a massage therapist on staff.
Lunch is a precursor of things to come – tender mesquite-smoked ribs, honey-glazed chicken and a fresh potato salad studded with the kind of tender translucent eggs that require slow sous vide cooking. I’m impressed and, wine glass in hand, head out to the sunny deck to enjoy the ocean view.
But, as my husband reminds me, this weekend is about fishing and soon we’re down in the equipment room with the rest of the gang pulling on our big red floatation suits and searching for a pair of rubber boots that fits. It’s not exactly a stylish look, but it’s a safe one, especially for a landlubber like me.
Down on the dock, we’re introduced to the guides who will shepherd us through the fishing side of this adventure. Our man is Kuiama St.-Gelais, a young French Canadian with what turns out to be an almost innate understanding of the water and what’s lurking below.
As we board our 27-foot Boston Whaler, along with our new fishing buddies, Jim Reidy and his wife Whitney, I can’t help but notice that chef Hawksworth and his “sous chef” for the weekend, Dino Renaerts of Vancouver’s Diva at the Met, are already zooming off in their own boat, in search of salmon.
It’s pristine, if not exactly peaceful, as we pull into a bay where more than a dozen other boats are trolling slowly back and forth in search of salmon and halibut. Eagles wheel in wide circles overhead and even before we get our gear readied, we see a humpback whale surface in the distance.
Kuiama – or Kui as he’s known – offers a lesson in weaving the big hooks through the silvery herring plugs, the bait he hopes will tempt a big Chinook. I soon decide this is a skill left to the experts, but the smelly lure snares a big fish almost instantly and I find myself at the back of the boat reeling my heart out, while Kui tells me what to do next.
“Wind, wind, wind, okay, let it go, let it go, rod up,” he barks while steering the boat away from the crush of traffic.
“That’s a really big one, REALLY big,” he grins as the rod tip bends low and I struggle to keep it, and myself, upright.
In the end, my prize snaps the line off against the gear of another boatload of fishers that’s traveling, and rubbernecking, too close.
“You got riggered, caught on the wires,” says Kui, relaying our loss to the other guides within radio contact. We mourn the “big one” that got away, but there will be other fish to fry.
Soon my boat mates are reeling in their own feisty fish, my husband proudly landing a sizable coho. The smaller coho are good eating, but every fisher dreams of hooking a massive tyee, the monster salmon that top 50 pounds and more.
After several hours on the water, I’m dreaming of dinner. And chef Hawksworth and his team don’t disappoint. From the smoked duck with baby beetroot and raspberry gastrique to the pan-seared halibut, served on a puree of local chanterelles with bacon foam, and a fig tart tatin, glazed with sweet citrus and served with a creamy stilton-laced zabaglione, this is not your typical fishing trip fare.
I head to fresh-air induced dreamland, between crisp cotton sheets, imagining what he will teach us tomorrow.
After a hearty breakfast, we gather in the sunny dining room for the other educational component of this trip, cooking school. Hawksworth and Renaerts are out of their red floatation suits and back in their chefs’ whites, and we each have a portable gas burner, a knife and cutting block, ready to prepare wild salmon braised with baby leeks, asparagus and fresh fava beans.
This is my kind of hands-on learning experience but surprisingly there are as many men as women in the room. My husband is behind his own stove, listening intently, and carefully chopping vegetables, which is a miracle. He’s also getting some one-on-one instruction from Hawksworth, which is frankly making me a little jealous. I mean, isn’t this my dream vacation?
We’re not the only couple trading places. Don Rowntree is cooking alongside his sister and tells me his wife, Robin, has already caught the fishing bug – the first timer has been out on the water since 7 a.m.
Troy-Anne Constable caught six fish, but not before her husband Greg learned the finer points of cooking it.
“I really got inspired,” says Greg after a lesson with Hawksworth. “I need to buy some of that Malden salt.”
And so it goes. Fishing and cooking instruction, eating and drinking and telling fish stories – a kind of strange role reversal, teaching us both something new.
It’s a vacation we’ll never forget – even if, back on dry land, my husband seems to quickly revert back to his non-cooking self.
There’s no doubt about the veracity of the Biblical adage – learning to fish certainly put more salmon on the table than we’ve ever known. Whole sides and slabs of salmon, cans of salmon, sweet chunks of Indian candy and slices of tender smoked salmon are crowding out everything else in the pantry.
But our days at the West Coast Fishing Club left us with more than fish in the freezer. It taught us both a little more about each other, and that’s always an important lesson to learn.

IF YOU GO:
The West Coast Fishing Club offers exclusive fishing adventures from four unique fishing properties for salmon and halibut fishing. Three- or four-day all-inclusive fishing trips from the main Clubhouse start at $4,425. The next David Hawksworth and Friends getaway goes Sept. 6-10, 2009, including cooking classes with David Hawksoworth of Hawksworth at Hotel Georgia and this year’s special guests Vikram Vij of Vij’s and Rangoli, and Dino Reinarts of Diva at The Met, with special wine tastings, spa visits and, of course, fishing.
The WCFC is also offering a newseries of guest chef events between June 14 and Sept. 10, 2009. Some of Vancouver’s hottest chefs will host culinary getaways at the lodge over the summer, including Vancouver magazine’s chef of the year Robert Belcham of Fuel and Campagnolo; Dale Mackay of Lumiere; Don Letendre of Elixir at the Opus Hotel; and Seigo Nakamura of Miku Aburi restaurant.
For more information call toll-free 1-888-432-6666 or visit www.westcoastfishingclub.com

©Cinda Chavich
www.tastereport.com

GOURMET GASTRO PUB GRUB IN THE BRITISH COTSWOLDS

Sat, 15 Aug 2009 11:21:11 -0700

POSH PUBS AND PRINCELY GRUB: A CULINARY JOURNEY THROUGH COTSWOLDS COUNTRY

By CINDA CHAVICH
(special to the Toronto Star)

The Cotswolds are only a one-hour drive outside of London but something magical happens the minute you veer off the motorway and into the hills.
This is the classic British countryside of fairy tales, where spring lambs bound across fields of lush grass, dewy and up to your knees, and where stacked stone walls line the little roads that pass yellow hillsides of blooming canola, and cut through towering beech forests, carpeted with bluebells.
It’s ridiculously idyllic, really, so perfectly pretty you expect Jane Eyre to stroll up the lane to the rose-covered stone cottage, where you’re sipping a pint on a sunny pub patio.
It’s no wonder that this little pocket of nostalgic old England has become home to those escaping the city life to simpler times, a place of organic gardens and locovore chefs, upscale country markets, gastropubs and pudding clubs.
Our route from Westcote through Stow-on-the-Wold, The Slaughters and Snowshill to Gloucester and Tetbury is a gastronomic whirlwind tour in a teacup, criss-crossing this compact region on a maze of winding backroads, with a delicious diversion – and a pub - around every bend.
In fact, there are plenty of prime watering holes to visit on any tour of the Cotswolds, and a growing number where fine food is a priority.
In the Vale of Evesham, the region where much of the country’s asparagus is grown, we stop for a pub lunch at The Plough Inn in Ford. In a snug corner, beneath the low timbered ceilings of this historic house, we gorge on the local and seasonal specialties, platters of ham and fresh asparagus, dipped in hollandaise, and classic sticky toffee pudding, swimming in warm custard.
The new high tone of public house fare is part of a growing trend, and while the world “gastropub” may elicit comments about oxymorons (or even jokes about indigestion), pubs that give good ale and gastronomy equal billing are definitely a sign of the culinary revolution underway in rural Britain.
Posh pubs, the kind where stars like Hugh Grant or Kate Winslet might pop down for a pint, are now at the centre of the quaint villages you’ll find along these British backroads.
Winslet, in fact, has just restored a manor house in the tiny town of Nether Westcote, near the 300-year-old Westcote Inn, where the recently-refurbished Tack Room pub has an authentic but minimalist decor, complete with rustic wide plank antique tables, flagstone floors and photos of the inn’s own award-winning race horse on the buff stone walls.
The menu is simple, but even a ploughman’s lunch is carefully concocted, featuring a local Daylesford organic cheese, sweet house-churned butter and slabs of crusty farmhouse bread, with house-made chutneys and perfectly boiled free-range eggs.
But perhaps the best example of this new genre of rural dining is The Kingham Plough, a pared down and modernized rural pub in Kingham.
It’s here in a tiny town that I find noted British chef Emily Watkins cooking hearty English dishes – like pot pies and apple fritters – but with the precision of her mentor, Heston Blumenthal. Watkins gave up her enviable position as Blumenthal’s sous chef at the famed Fat Duck (a three Michelin star restaurant) to pursue her own style of nose-to-tail cooking here in the Cotswolds, sourcing local ingredients from her neighbors and adding her urbane style to the rustic plates, whether it’s the crisp duck egg wrapped in bacon with watercress sauce or a fillet of local Hereford beef with triple cooked chips. My tender pigeon was cooked sous vide, she admits, before being encased in pastry for a pub-like presentation, and the Granny Smith ice cream and local cider granitee, served alongside the exquisite sugared apple doughnut (a.k.a. beignet), was churned to order in house.
It’s one picturesque village of tidy yellow stone cottages after another, all with a nod to exquisitely fresh, locally-sourced food. Martha Stewart would be happy here – among the rare Cotswold Legbar chickens with their powder blue eggs, the handsome heirloom pigs and green pastures dotted with wooly sheep. There are historic venison estates, with “deer parks” for raising wild game for the table, and pretty village hotels serving up nostalgic British puddings.
Celebrities and artists, from Elizabeth Hurley and Stella McCartney to Damien Hirst, Kate Moss and Hugh Grant, have homes here.
Even the Royals have found peace in the Cotswolds. In fact, it may have been Prince Charles himself who set the bar for the local, sustainable food movement in the area, with his organic farm on the Highgrove Estate, and his The Pub is the Hub campaign, designed to preserve the small town pubs that are at the centre of small rural communities.
We stop to putter through the Prince’s new Highgrove Shop in Tetbury, where mud from the Duchy Farm still clings to the carrots and potatoes sold to fund his charity work. The Duchy Farm brand is the largest organic brand in the UK and we feel lucky for the chance to buy Highgrove branded china and garden tools, a luxury once only available to those with a suitably guilded invitation to the Highgrove Estate.
Tetbury is one of the classic wool market towns that dot the region. It’s agrarian, but with a posh veneer, the shops offering colorful rubber Wellies, antiques and gourmet food. At chef Michael Bedford’s Chef’s Table cookery school, for one, you can shop for fresh fish and local cheese, then pop upstairs for a day course to learn to create “a selection of breads, risottos, a fish course, traditional cassoulet and pudding”.
It’s the old chicken and egg question – what came first, the chefs and their city customers, or the local organic growers, artisan cheese maker and fancy food shops? Whatever the answer, they’re all here in spades.
The London crowd is obviously behind Daylesford Organic, a farm shop and creamery where the free-range chickens, with their pretty blue eggs, are artfully displayed alongside the wheels of organic cheese, an impressive artisan bakery, tony garden shop and Hay Barn Spa, all housed in a collection of restored stone farm buildings.
This may be the country, but with a very urbane vibe. While the philosophy is all about growing and serving healthy organic food, the bucolic setting is the only thing rural about this very upscale market for sophisticated gastronomes.
We head to the patio where polished young servers deliver organic cappuccino – with organic sugar - to stylish Moms, while nannies vainly attempt to placate two-year-olds screaming for their fair trade chocolate “babyccinos” and Mongolian cashmere felt teddy bears.
Beyond this hubbub, we find solace chatting with the Daylesford butchers about their “80-day chickens,” and the Gloucester Old Spot heirloom pork in their famous bangers.
The Saturday farmers’ market in Stroud is a little more down to earth, but you’ll find some great local artisan products – from Simon Weaver’s delicate Cotswolds Blue cheese to Charles Martell’s runny and assertive Stinking Bishop, fresh pork sausages from Addley Farm, and Badger’s Bottom hard cider, “as rough as a badger’s bottom.” You might even find local author and “freelance chef” Rob Rees doing an outdoor cooking class for the crowd.
Even quirkier culinary experiences in the area range from the classic Pudding Club dessert debauchery every Friday night at Three Ways House in Mickleton, to the 200-year-old tradition of cheese rolling – actually chasing - a 4-kg wheel of Double Gloucester cheese down Cooper’s Hill.
As we pass the 60-degree slope, local Chris Dees explains that the race was once cancelled “for safety reasons” and, when reinstated in 1999, the start time was moved up to noon from 6 p.m., “to prevent runners from drinking too long in the pub.”
That’s probably a good idea, considering the danger of tumbling headlong down this near vertical precipice, especially when fortified with liquid courage.
But it’s hard to imagine that much hard drinking goes on in the new generation of posh public houses in the Cotswolds these days – the dining is simply too divine.

IF YOU GO:
The Cotswolds is truly an “area of outstanding natural beauty” and there’s even a website dedicated to the fact – www.cotswoldsaonb.uk For general tourism information about the area visit www.cotswolds.com On the food side, start with a copy of The Good Pub Guide (www.thegoodpubguide.co.uk), or hook up with Rob Reese (the Cotswolds Chef) for a private food tour or a cooking class using local products www.robrees.com

GASTRO PUBS AND OTHER GOOD EATS:
Kingham Plough: gastropub, The Green, Kingham, Chipping Norton, 0X7 6YD 0845 205 1646 www.thekinghamplough.co.uk

The Wheatsheaf: gastropub, Combe Hay, Bath 0122 583 3504 www.wheatsheafcombehay.co.uk

The Westcote Inn: gastropub, Nether Westcote, Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire 1993 830 888 www.westcoteinn.co.uk

Plough at Ford: ancient Cotswolds pub, Temple Guilting, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, GL 54 5RU 01386 584215 www.theploughinnatford.co.uk

Daylesford Organic Farmshop, Daylesford near Kingham, Gloucestershire GL56 0YG 016 08731700
www.daylesfordorganic.com

STATELY SLEEPS:

Lords of the Manor: a stately hotel on eight acres, with 26 rooms from £195
Upper Slaughter, Gloucestershire GL54 2JD 145 182 0243 www.lordsofthemanor.com

Three Ways House: quirky pudding themed rooms from £140
Mickleton, Chipping Campden, Gloucestershire GL55 6SB 138 643 8429 www.puddingclub.com

The Manor House Hotel at Castle Combe: 365 acres including the 14th century house and maze of quaint Cotswolds cottages, from £180
Castle Combe, North Bath, Wiltshire SN14 7HR 124 978 2206 www.manorhouse.co.uk

(This story appeared in the Toronto Star)

©Cinda Chavich
www.tastereport.com

ADVENTURE: Saddling up a camel in Texas

Sun, 21 Jun 2009 08:20:05 -0700

NOT YOUR AVERAGE DESERT TREK

By CINDA CHAVICH

(Big Bend, Texas) - When Canadian mountaineers Jamie Clarke and Bruce Kirkby began planning for their monumental 1,200-km trek across the Arabia’s Empty Quarter in1998, it was challenging even for these seasoned adventurers.
Climbing Everest is one thing. But how do a couple of guys from Calgary learn to conquer the inversely severe environs of sand and sun, never mind coexists with camels?
Why, with a couple of equally-insane guys in southern Texas, of course.
Clarke and Kirkby went to the remote Big Bend Ranch State Park, deep in the parched wilderness of western Texas, to find naturalist David Alloway and camel handler Doug Baum. The two Texans were both making their livings in this stretch of the Chihuahuan Desert, Alloway teaching state border patrollers , customs officers and Air Force pilots how to survive the harsh desert environment; Baum teaching school kids about the historic Texas Camel Corp with his menagerie of friendly dromedaries.
But it was only after the Canadian adventurers came to Alloway and Baum for a desert primer, that the pair pooled their skills and designed a similar soft adventure program for the general public. Now almost anyone – Baum has had guests as young as nine and as old as 83 - can explore this empty quarter of Texas from the back of a camel.
Soft being the operative work, it sounded like a good choice for a city girl like me.
While it may sound wild, even a little crazy, to take a camel trek in the continental U.S., it’s a low-risk kind of adventure that’s perfect for the rugged urbanite looking for great bragging rights. And I felt a bit like a Canadian adventurer myself, albeit no match for the adrenaline junkies who came before me, as I headed out across the packed, hardpan plain, perched precariously in the sky-high saddle (a camel’s hump is a dizzying eight feet off the ground). I had signed the waver and opted to wear the geeky riding helmet, just in case I landed on my head, which I am prone to, even from far lesser heights.
These ancient beasts of burden may be considered domestic animals but they are very large and unpredictable – 2,000 pounds of massive body, elongated neck and a hilarious head, atop spindly legs, with leathery knees that fold at will whenever something savoury appears at ground level. As they say, the average camel looks like something designed by a committee and slapped together on a Friday afternoon. The six smelly steeds in this gangly group are no exception.
My mount is Chewbacca, a mature and once-feral camel from the Australian outback that Baum rescued from an exotic animal dealer. Chewy (aka Robert E.) carried Martin Sheen in his recent film, A Texas Funeral, so I’m feeling both privileged and safe. That is, until he peers at me with one big brown eye and tries to pin my leg against the corral fence.
It’s just a test. I yank my knee up and he takes the steel crossbar in his own ribs. It’s enough to resign him to the fact that we’re going out for a walk, and I’m riding.
Baum tells us how the original Texas Camel Corp was born in the 1850s, with two dozen camels that took government surveyors into this remote corner of Texas to scout for settlement sites. Then he gives us all the standard safety spiel, explaining that camels like Chewy, Sam and Chug can get nasty, but not before warning you with a regurgitated spew of slimy cud.
“Camels don’t spit, they puke,” he explains, clearly enjoying our citified reaction.
“I’ve never had a guest bitten or kicked,” he adds, “but, before a camel bites or kicks or addresses your lineage, they will vomit first.”
Lovely. Well, information is power, but I’ll be sure to keep my distance from both ends of our cranky conveyances. I’m hanging on – for dear life, really – to the wide handle across the front of the customized saddle that’s tilted on the back of Chewy’s massive hump. Baum has determined that I will lead the pack of six riders, our camels tied together in two strings, which seems mad, until I realize that he will be on the ground, a firm hand on Chewbacca’s lead. This, I surmise, is likely the best place to be, closest to the boss.
Like the Bedu guides that led the Canadian trek through Arabia, both Baum and Alloway are on foot as we head out toward the natural pools carved out of the rock at Cinco Tinajas. Thus, the pace is slow and easy, no faster than the pair can amble, while pointing out interesting flora and fauna along the way. In this environment, the camels seem at home, stopping to strip the small leaves from a scraggly stem of ocotillo with their big, yellow teeth, vocalizing their opinions on the pace, with low, guttural growls.
“They’re not angry, just chatty,” explains Baum, using the kind of baby talk I reserve for my spoiled house cats to address the big, rangy beasts. Baum is a former zoo keeper who clearly loves these camels, many that he’s bottle fed from birth. Soon you begin feeling like you’re out for the day with the family pet straining at the leash.
Chewbacca seems calm and I soon get used to his rolling gait. There’s no galloping on these camels. The trickiest motion is matching their bouncy downhill trot.
“They’re not prone to stampeding – they’re not really given to running,” drawls Baum with a smirk, “but it is a little nippy today and camels can become a little spirited in the cold.”
I’m prepared for the worst but the trip is uneventful. The ride is actually calming with its rhythmic swaying motion and spare but dramatic scenery. Dubbed el despoblado, or the uninhabited land, by Spanish explorers, this area sees only 3,000 visitors a year, still a stretch of empty wilderness where you’ll find nothing but quiet solitude.
Big Bend Ranch State Park is one of the newest and most remote parks in the country, an undiscovered extension of the larger and more well traveled Big Bend National Park next door. Opened in 1997, it’s 287,000 acres of desert, dotted with spiny cactus and crossed by only one interior road. From the locked gate just past Fort Leaton in Presidio (where you must buy a permit to get the access code to enter), it’s 56 km of mostly rough gravel to the Sauceda Ranch where the treks begin.
Until recently, this was a massive private cattle ranch and the state maintains a herd of resident Texas longhorns in keeping with the area’s history, animals you may encounter as you head along the 30-km main trail that rings the park. There are other animals here, too – cougars, coyotes, kangaroo rats, geckos and javelina, a kind of tusked feral pig that gather s wherever one of the region’s many underground springs breaks the surface to form a small, life-sustaining pool.
But like everything out here in the desert heat, wildlife is scarce and scattered. There is virtually no shelter – the flat, rocky landscape is punctuated with short shrubs, small clumps of creosote, rainbow cactus and the ubiquitous prickly pears, their masses of flat paddles adding sage green and burgundy contrasts to the miles of buff, sandy soil. Occasionally you’ll find a shady respite from the burning sun, a “riparian area” where a turbid spring-fed stream supports a few ragged cottonwoods and a flock of chirpy wrens. But this is mostly a parched place, with a bleak beauty born of immense emptiness.
Coming from Canada, where wilderness survival usually depends on staying warm and dry, not cool and hydrated, it’s easy to underestimate the dangers of this back county. Without sufficient water, even a car breakdown in its blistering 120-degree summer heat can be risky and visitors are encouraged to have emergency kits, extra food and water when traveling here. Alloway, a former park ranger and the first non-Australian to complete the 200-kilometer Pilbara Trek through Australia's punishing outback, teaches people to be respectful of the desert, but not fearful.
“People lived here 12,000 years ago and if they did it, we can do it, too,” he tells the hardy men and women who sign up for his survival schools. “Over time, we’ve become more urban and we’ve lost the ability to save our own life, but these are skills you can learn.”
Clarke and Kirkby didn’t rely on GPS systems and neither will you if you study with Alloway. Like some latter-day Comanche tracker, he uses the sun, the moon and other natural clues to keep himself oriented. He’ll show you how to start a fire with nothing more than elbow grease, where to dig in a dry creek bed for water, and how to sew with the spines and fibrous core of a spiky sotol leaf.
Alloway looks the part in his a felt cowboy hat and army surplus sweater, a Texas version of Crocodile Dundee. Part naturalist, part survivalist, he’s the kind of guy you’d want to have on your side if you were lost in this endless and empty desert wilderness.
But I’m not sure I’d enjoy learning all he knows. His intense, three-day survival treks focus on finding water, not food, and sound like a great way to lose weight. Dumped in the desert with seven other survivors, two quarts of water, a knife, compass and emergency blanket, graduates of his survival workshops can work on their fire-starting and interpersonal skills in a real life and death situation. Sure, there’s always a radio nearby, and instructors monitor the group “from a discreet distance,” but it’s all too close to reality TV for me.
“With enough water a healthy person could walk out of any area in the continental U.S. before starving,” he tells potential students. “If you are not physically able to go three days without a large meal you should not be attending the advanced courses.”
I’d much rather learn what I can from this rugged Texan while we’re parked on a comfy couch, next to the big fireplace at the Sauceda Ranch bunkhouse where we are spending the night on our camel excursion. This cheap and cheerful accommodation for 30 is the best place to start any exploration of the park.
The bunkhouse is set up like a hostel, with separate men’s and women’s wings, where you’ll get a semi-private bed, complete with linen, for only $15 (US) a night. There are showers, a central sitting room and a kitchen that turns out inexpensive and hearty meals. The big breakfast, including eggs, coffee and the Texan tradition of biscuits and cream gravy, is $4, while our supper of spicy beef fajitas with rice and all the trimmings was a reasonable $9. Truly a bargain and a treat when you’re this far from civilization.
If you’re into even more luxurious digs, the original 1905 ranch house, known as The Big House, is a rambling adobe with three bedrooms (room for eight guests) and an awesome screen porch where you can ruminate in a rocking chair, all for $40 per person.
In the end, a camel trek proves to be a great way to explore the Big Bend. I enjoy riding safely above the rattlesnakes, tarantulas, stubborn cholla cacti and other desert wonders that bite, sting and stick to stay alive. Chewbacca is a stalwart and friendly companion – by lunchtime, he’s nibbling baby carrots out of my hand and I’m talking baby talk to him as I swing confidently back into the saddle.
According to Sand Dance, Kirkby’s book about his desert adventure, the saddest thing about completing the trip was saying goodbye to his trusty camel. Like him, I had a big smooch for Chewbacca when we parted company in Texas and a feeling that I had accomplished a trek that was truly unique.
IF YOU GO:
Big Bend Ranch State Park is in the extreme southwestern corner of Texas, along the Mexican border. It’s a 560-mile drive from Dallas, or a more doable 225 miles from the nearest airport in Midland/Odessa. American Airlines offers daily, non-stop flights from most major Canadian cities to Dallas/Fort Worth. Air Canada, Continental, United, Delta and US Airways also offer service to Texas. Then it’s a short secondary flight to Odessa/Midland.
Even if you don’t venture into back country, you can see part of the park from highway FM 170, one of the most spectacular drives in the U.S. Known as the River Road, it’s a 70-km scenic strip between Lajitas and Presidio that skirts the park along its border with the Rio Grande river, offering amazing views the red volcanic rock mountains and canyons.
Late fall, winter and spring are the best times to visit the region – in summer temperatures can soar to 120°F. There are about 42 km of hiking trails within the park with primitive, back country campsites ($6 pp/pd) - make sure you take precautions and can read a topo map before venturing out. To reserve campsites, or the park’s bunk or ranch house rooms, call 915-229-3416 or visit www.tpwd.state.tx.us.
Baum’s Texas Camel Corp heads out for spring and fall camel treks in Big Bend, $690 US for a two-day trek with camping or $990 for three days (max. 6 participants). He also has day rides ($250 US). Contact him at 866-622-6357 or www.texascamelcorps.com.
To join David Alloway’s Skills of Survival programs, visit his web site at www.skillsofsurvival.com
A useful guide to the area is Adventures in the Big Bend by Jim Glendinning(The Alpine Company Press). For more information about Texas and special discounts for Canadian tourists, contact Texas Tourism at www.TravelTex.com.

(first appeared in the Globe and Mail)

©Cinda Chavich
www.tastereport.com

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HOTELS: OPUS HOTEL, VANCOUVER, B.C.

Sat, 20 Jun 2009 16:38:30 -0700

SLEEP WITH THE STARS

By CINDA CHAVICH

Vancouver, B.C. – The last time I was dining at the Elixir, the cosy little bistro moderne in the Opus Hotel, I look up from my meal and spied Ashton Kutcher at the bar.
While he ducked out, as quickly as he ducked in, it’s like that at Opus, a small but chic little getaway in the heart of trendy Yaletown where you might bump into almost anyone. Hoteliers don’t like to tell too much, but along with Demi and Ashton there have been other famous heads on their crisp Egyptian cotton pillows – Cher, Jennifer Lopez, Jamie Foxx and Christina Aguilera, to drop a few fame names.

Ambiance
From the street, Opus is understated, squeezed into a downtown corner where a new Sky Train station is under construction. When the latest route is complete, sometime in late 2009, you’ll be able to zip to the hotel’s front door directly from the Vancouver International Airport.
Right now, a young doorman/concierge will meet your cab on the street and hustle your bags into the compact lobby, dominated by a slim, contemporary lounge, with it’s low leather banquette and a line of tall translucent cocktail tables that literally glow from within.
When you’re ready to explore, there’s the trendy Yaletown district right outside your door, a collection of renovated historic warehouses filled with restaurants, boutiques and loft apartments.

Clientele
The beautiful people here are conspicuously casual – designer jeans, untucked and lightly rumpled striped dress shirts or tees, shades and ball caps, with a stylish Bluetooth headset tucked behind the ear – all very Hollywood-in-hiding.
The Opus owners helped cement the star connection by providing free hotel stays, spa treatments and dinners for Oscar winners and presenters for three years straight. And now it seems to be a home away from home for actors and others involved in the many movies and television programs shot here on the west coast.

Design

This hotel is stylish, fresh and quirky – contemporary in design but just a little bohemian and eclectic, like your favourite edgy art gallery. The overall vibe is youthful - lot Audrey Hepburn and Feist, but a little Leonard Cohen, too. With a discreet and comfortable restaurant, and a stylish bar that’s known as one of the hippest spots for a cocktail, Opus Hotel is small-is-beautiful personified.
The design is thoroughly modern but the smart, intuitive service and groovy amenities make the experience here both warm and refreshing. You get the feeling that you’ve discovered a special hideaway, something that’s beyond the masses, and firmly on the fashionable edge. It’s no wonder the stars come here to stay.

Rooms
Like the federal Conservative party, the Opus has created profiles of the kind of guests they hope to attract – each with a name, distinct personal character and style.
That may be why their Lifestyle Concierge has settled me into the Provencal yellow “Pierre” room. He’s a food critic, into food and wine, jazz, culinary tourism, history, artchitecture and conservation – a guy who likes to eat at Vij’s, spa at Skoah and shop at Les Amis du Fromage. It’s a smart match, but I’ve also felt comfy in the modern and minimalist “Mike” room, he a New York doctor with a penchant for outdoors, and restaurants like Sanafir and the nearby Bluewater Café & Raw Bar. There are five different room designs in the 96-room boutique hotel, painted and accessorized to appeal to Billy, the enlightened rock star; Susan, the fashionista mom; and Dede, the film actress and material girl.
Not only do you get the stylish décor, flat screen TVs, L’Occitane bath products and other interesting amenities in your room - where else can you buy a personal hand-held OXIA oxygen canister to banish the jet lag from that overseas location shoot? – but each “character” offers his/her best tips on where to eat, club, shop, play and even get a haircut in a personalized virtual guide to Vancouver. You’ll also find customized CD’s to play on the stereo system, and a selection of books to read.

Food and Drink
While the hotel’s concierge characters offer their opinions about the best places in the city to eat and drink, you don’t need to go far. Elixir chef Don Letendre is a bright light on the local food scene, his cuisine creatively combining west coast ingredients and Asian influences in noshes (dubbed “O Bites”) like quince lollipops, warm shellfish ceviche and tempura prawns. Hang out in the hip Opus Bar when you want to be seen, or slip into a dark, cosy corner in the Velvet Room for dinner.
Foodies will love the neighborhood scene – Yaletown is home to top tables like Cioppino’s Enoteca, Bluewater and Coast – or take a short taxi ride to Fuel in Kits, for contemporary nose-to-tail cooking.
Return to Opus Bar for a nightcap. Some of the city’s best DJs offer late night live music, and the kitchen stays open late for small plates like Saltspring Island mussels with lemongrass and crushed cherry tomatoes, or beet carpaccio with goat cheese.

Things to do
Come for the 28th annual VIFF (Oct. 1-15, 2009) and hang out at Opus Hotel with visiting celebs. Last season, the hotel offered a special VIFF package, complete with an invitation to a VIP invite-only pre-party and weekend passes to unlimited screenings. Check their website for other great packages – whether you just need a weekend escape or the 2010 Epicurean experience, including a tour of the nearby Granville Island Market with the hotel chef, who will whip up a champion 10-course menu with your shopping spoils.

Bottom Line
Opus is a pretty cool spot to bed down, and you may even rub shoulders with the rich and famous.

Opus Hotel
322 Davie Street
Vancouver, B.C.
604-694-2103
www.opushotel.com

Local Culture: MALAYSIA’S MULTICULTURAL SMORGASBORD

Thu, 18 Jun 2009 15:52:10 -0700

By CINDA CHAVICH
 (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia) - The aromas mingling in the demonstration kitchen of Kulala Lumpur’s chic Restoran Rebung illustrate Malaysia’s cultural diversity, all in a single meal.  Celebrity chef Florence Tan, wearing a lacy kebaya, flashy baubles and beaded shoes, is clearly a nyonya – the term used here to describe women of mixed Chinese and Malay heritage. As she tosses together a wok full of fiery Penang chicken curry and stirs in a pungent fermented-shrimp paste called belacan, Muslim chef Normah Mustafa works nearby, creating her own aromatic skate stew with pandan-scented coconut rice.  Like her elegant dress, Tan’s nyonya (also called Peranakan) cuisine is unique to this corner of southeast Asia, where for centuries settlers from India, Portugal, Holland, China and Britain have fused their food traditions with those of the local Malays. While ethnic and religious disparities do exist, religious pluralism remains a cornerstone here, and it’s easy for a visitor to explore the country’s many cultures through the its melting pot of tastes.  Malaysia celebrated 50 years of independence from British colonial rule last year but its food traditions are centuries older. And there’s no better way to experience the young country’s multi-ethnic history than an independent or a guided romp through the local noshes found on the storied food streets of Kuala Lumpur or George Town, capital of the state of Penang to the north.  It’s not surprising that food and flavour are so integral to daily life in Malaysia. It was spices – the nutmeg, pepper, cinnamon and ginger that are still staples – which first drew traders to these coastal communities along the Strait of Malacca.   Spice merchants from India, Britain and China all left their culinary, social and political marks. The earliest arrivals, from India, brought curries and Islamic religion, and a system of sultans or kings, which remains intact alongside the country’s constitutional democracy, a legacy of British colonialists. From the Chinese traders and merchants, who arrived in the late 18th century, came the powerful clans and, eventually, the intermingled nyonya and Baba cultures.   Kuala Lumpur may have a greater variety of formal restaurants, but for a full immersion in Malaysia’s ethnic-food scene head to George Town, the country’s street-food central. Food vendors – or hawkers - have a long history in the city, one you can explore at the local museum. In the early 1900s, hawkers plied their trade in Penang streets day and night, calling at homes with breakfast, lunch and tea treats piled on their bicycles and push carts. You’ll still find the odd bicycle vendor, laden with bags of sweets or pastries, but there are also formal hawker markets, with a variety of vendors and outdoor seating.  The strip of stalls lining the waterfront along Gurney Drive had recently been centralized into a kind of mega-hawker-world. Diners line up at portable stainless-steel stalls selling char kway teowÖ (flat rice noodles stir-fried with spicy sauces), rojak (a cucumber-and-pineapple salad seasoned with shrimp paste) and steaming bowls of laksa, the city’s famous hot-and-sour fish soup.   Whether you visit the organized food vendors on Gurney, the daily “wet markets” among the fish and fruit sellers downtown or a Muslim night-market, street dining is a reminder that delicious food is about fresh ingredients, not fancy equipment. It is also the best introduction to Malaysian culinary delights beyond well-known dishes, such as satay, nasi goring and rendang.  In the Pasar Pulau Tikus Market, for example, look for spicy bowls of breakfast noodles (Hokkien prawn mee) and steamed packets of glutinous rice and sweet coconut wrapped in banana leaves. Or try a lok-lok dinner (cooking your own selection of fish and vegetable balls, squid, black mushrooms and bok choy, in a communal pot of savoury broth).  In noisy and crowded Chinatown, the old shop houses open to the street and offer dried and salted fish, lotus moon cakes, steamed packets of sticky rice, and sips of restorative herbal broth. In the district’s restaurants, dim-sum chefs create halal versions of popular pork dishes using chicken – juicy Shanghai-style dumplings and even barbecue-chicken steamed buns – plus exotic pastries tinted pale green with pandan leaves and filled with rich egg custard.  In Georgetown’s Little India, the influence of the Tamil workers who arrived in the 19th century is still evident with southern Indian specialties that include masala dosa and roti on restaurant menus. Street vendors cook deep-fried treats like samosas, sweet banana fritters and crispy pakoras, while Hindi pop music blares from storefronts. At Restoran Kaliamman’s, one of the city’s famous banana-leaf restaurants, waiters scurry through the crowded room with aromatic biriyani, butter masala paneer and eggplant bartha to pile on banana leaf “plates.” It’s a hearty, and somewhat messy, lunch that must be scooped up with your fingers – a technique which locals claim “aids digestion.”   You can even visit Liaquat Alikhan, the neighbourhood paan vendor, and watch him wrap his secret combination of fennel, cloves, nutmeg, saffron honey and rose syrup in a betel leaf for a refreshing post-meal chew.  Mamak (Indian Muslim) cuisine ranges from murtabak and nasi kandar, to wok-fried noodles and steamed Sri Lankan sweets like putu mayong, a rice-noodle pancake rolled with a sweet palm sugar and coconut paste.  Even the British expat-inspired Roti Benggali can be found at famous Penang bakeries, such as the historic Ismalia Bakery, where generations of the same family have made the tall white loaves that have come to be considered one of George Town’s “traditional foods.”  In fruit season, when the local durian is fresh, people jostle for the best of the smelly specimens in the markets, and you can sample sweet juicy exotics, like spiky red rambutans, fuchsia dragon fruit and the creamy white sections of bulbous purple mangosteens.  Back in KL and the modern kitchen of Restoran Rebung, Tan and Mustafa serve their specialties while Malay restaurant manager Lina Ali bustles about pouring tea and setting tables.  Here in the kitchen, halal rules may forbid the consumption of pork and alcohol, but friends can still cook, entertain and dine across cultures. 
IF YOU GO:
CULINARY ADVENTURES:
You can hire one of the country’s tour operators and a freelance guide to introduce you to the culinary pleasures of Penang, or just walk out the door and start tasting.
The Malaysian tourist office advertises culinary tours but you will have to make advance arrangements directly with chef schools or hotels to participate in cooking classes. In Kuala Lumpur, Chefs like Florence Tan will arrange lessons for groups (contact the International School of Home Cooking at 2247-1571) and large hotels (including the Mandarin Oriental, Equatorial and Shangri-La properties) offer cooking classes, or book an 11-day culinary tour through Pacific Holidays (www.pacificholidaysinc.com).
To taste spices and fruits at the source, take a day trip into the country to Teluk Bahang to walk the tranquil forest trails of the Tropical Spice Garden (www.tropicalspicegarden.com) or the visit the nearby Tropical Fruit Farm (www.tropicalfruitfarm.com), where you can tour the farm to see dragon fruit, rabutan, mangosteen and durian growing, then enjoy generous samples of several exotic fruits.

GETTING THERE:
Cathay Pacific has daily non-stop service from Toronto to Hong Kong, and 17 nonstop flights every week from Vancouver to Hong Kong, with connections to Kuala Lumpur and Penang via Malaysian Airlines. Business class travelers will appreciate Cathay’s massive and well-appointed airport lounge in the recently expanded Hong Kong International Airport, recently named the world’s best airport. www.cathaypacific.ca

©Cinda Chavich 2009

FOOD AND WINE TOURISM: ROMAGNA’S RUSTIC CHARMS

Thu, 18 Jun 2009 13:51:02 -0700

HIDDEN GEMS OF ITALY

By CINDA CHAVICH

(Faenza, Italy) - Anyone familiar with fine Italian food products should be well acquainted with the region of Emilia-Romagna.
It’s home to such classics as Parmigianno-Reggiano cheese, the prosciutto hams of Parma, Modena’s traditional balsamic vinegars, and mortadella, Bologna’s fat pork sausages.
In fact, Bologna, the region’s capital, is nicknamed la grassa (the fat one), in reference to its historically rich cuisine, based on local meats and cheeses. Meaty Bolognese sauce is named for Bologna, and the area is known for all kinds of cured pork products, from salamis to the stuffed pig’s foot called zampone, mortadella and the famous prosciutto di Parma).
It’s the Emilia side, the west side of the region, where all of these fine food traditions are centered. But Emilia is not so well known for its wine, being home to the light spritzy Lambrusco, an off-dry rosÈ that can be the perfect foil for all of that fat, salty charcuterie, but was never considered a serious wine.
But the eastern half of the region, the area known as Romagna, that stretches off to the Adriatic Sea and up into the hills, is the side that a wine lover might explore, a place where Sangiovese di Romagna, Trebbiano, Albana and Pignoletto, a dry white that also appears in sparkling versions, is made.
While it may be an important hub in the foodie universe, Emilia-Romagna is largely uncharted territory when it comes to wine. But there are some hidden gems if you get a car and head into the foothills of the Apennines, mountains that divide the region from neighboring Tuscany. The vineyards between Faenza and Rimini in the heart of Romagna, produce some remarkable, accessible and good value wines.
While there are several wineries now open for tastings, the best way to start exploring the wines of Romagna is with a visit to the Consorzio Vini Di Romagna (regional wine cellar), a tasting room set in a historic Sforza Castle in the pretty little village of Dozza, known for the stunning collection of murals covering the walls of its buildings.
Dozza is a short 25 km drive from Bologna, at the beginning of the Romagna wine route.
The castle itself is worth a visit for the views across the valley, but inside you’ll find many of the region’s wines offered for tasting, plus information on wine tourism routes through the region.
DOC Romagna is one of the biggest DOC’s in Italy, David Navacchia of Tre Monti Winery and the VP of the consorzio tells me over lunch at La Baita in Brisighella, casual enoteca that specializes in local charcuterie, from mortadella and pancetta, to slow-cooked beef cheeks and thick ribbons of homemade tagliatelle with wild boar ragu.
ìThere are 80 producers, with 65 small to medium producers and 15 co-operatives making more than 20 million bottles,î he says. ìI can’t compete at medium quality and low price, but we are beginning to respect ourselves, and work to create better wines.î
While modern winemaking technology has arrived in the wineries of Romagna, much of that work is in the vineyards that stretch over the hills around Imola and Predappio. Winegrowers are planting new clones and limiting production to improve the quality of the grapes. I taste it in his dry, green apple acidity of the Albana di Romagna, and the soft, silky tannins of the Sangiovese di Romangna superiore reserva, named for his mother Thea.
I am impressed by the Sangiovese Romagnolo – the different clones, soils and harsher climate on this side of the Appennines create a different Sangiovese, every little hilltop between Bertinoro, Brisighella and Modigliana seems to make a slightly different wine.
But the wines of Romagna are a revelation – like the passito Albana, made by drying the grapes before pressing to concentrate sugars and create a dessert wine reminiscent of the carmelized apples in tart tatin, or the . But the food here is also hearty and delicious.
There are several DOC wines in Romagna including Albana, Trebbiano, and Pagadebit (a high producer that always allowed growers to ìpay their debts), but the first DOC wine in the region, and the best, is Sangiovese. It’s the wine that works with Romagna’s rustic cuisine, the country-style soups, wild game and fresh pasta dishes.
It is the latter – the pasta or what Romagnans call the ìminestraî – that is the centre of every meal here. It’s pasta that’s tender, golden yellow, made with eggs, and rolled and formed by hand into tagliatelle noodles and tiny filled tortellini for soup.

When I sit down for lunch with the Turchi family at their charming olive oil mill in the hills outside Cesena, it is over big steaming platters of hand-cut tagliatelle with meaty Bolognese sauce, and thick slabs of rustic bread, toasted on an open fire and slathered with tapenade.
It is harvest time, and the small press has been running all morning, producing a steady stream of
golden fruity oil.
Mariangela Turchi is dishing up pasta for the handful of mill workers here, including her husband Pierluca and son Michele, and their free-flowing Sangiovese is the perfect foil to her fine, homestyle cuisine.
It’s the same at Casa Zanni in Rimini, a family-run osteria, butcher shop and gourmet food store, where the hand-made, grilled piadina (a.k.a. piada) bread arrives warm with today’s fresh white squaquarone cheese, and a bottle of the owner’s own Sangiovese.
Like this delicious flat bread and sweet, young cheese, it was only by traveling the back roads of Romagna that I encountered their aged Formaggio di Fossa, a cheese made from either sheep of cow’s milk, then buried to age for three months in deep stone pits beneath the streets of Sogliano al Rubicone. Pressed under the weight of the column of cheeses piled into the deep,narrow pits, each becomes slightly misshapen and emerges, during the late November Fossa celebrations, aromatic and impressed with the texture of the cloth bags that contain them.
Here in Romagna, these purely local traditions still survive and thrive.

WINE ROUTES IN ROMAGNA
Start your wine route in Dozza at the Enoteca Regionle. Wend your way through the vineyards around Imola to Faenza, to visit the international museum of ceramics. Head through Forli and Castrocaro Terme, to Predappio, then through the Bidente river valley to Meldole and Bertinoro, known for it’s top quality wines. From here, its on to Forlimpopoli and the museum, cooking school and restaurant recently opened to celebrate the great Italian gastronome Pelligrino Artusi. Head on to Cesena, the fruit capital, and then through Longiano and up to the pretty town of Sogliano al Rubicone, where the famous fossa cheese is still buried underground in pits beneath the houses and streets to age, before it’s retrieved during a festival in November. The towns on toward Rimini are dotted with castles. Stop for wine and taste typical local foods at one of the Consorzio Vini di Romagna’s three enotecas: Ca’ de BÈ in Bertinoro; Ca’ de Ven in Ravenna, or Osteria di Piazza Nuova in Bagnacavallo.
For more information: www.consorziovinidiromagna.it

WINERIES TO WATCH:
Tre Monti
Taste: Thea Sangiovese di Romagna
www.tremonti.it

Stefano Ferrucci
www.stefanoferrucci.it

Poderi Morini
Nonno Rico Sangiovese di Romagna DOC superiore riserva
www.poderimorini.com

Spinetta
Taste: Bacchicus Sangiovese di Romagna Superiore DOC
www.spinetta.it

Societa’Agricola Rani S.S.
Burson Etichetta nera
www.randivini.it

Colombina di Luciano Garofoli
www.colombina.it

San Valentino
Taste: Scabi Sangiovese di Romagna Superiore DOC
www.vinisanvalentino.com

Valle Delle Lepri Az. Biologica
www.cameracommercioweb.it/valledellelepri

Campo del Sole
www.campodelsole.it

EAT:
Don’t miss Casa Zanni in Rimini – a family-owned restaurant, gourmet food store and butcher shop, where you can watch them make piadini and roast their own organic beef over a wood fire, then enjoy both with some local cheese (try the squacarone or fossa) and a great selection of Romagna wines (including their own Casa Zanni Roccamastino DOC Sangiovese di Romagna Superiore). Antonio Zanni founded the comfortable osteria in 1917 in this 17th century olive mill, and his children and grandchildren still run the place in great style. Sit on one of the long wooden benches and share a table with friendly locals, then shop for wonderful local olive oils, fruit preserves and the best torrone in town.

Casa Zanni
Via Casale, 205/213
47826 Villa Verucchio
Rimini
Closed on Tuesdays (except August)

SLEEP:
Make your base, for at least part of your trip, in the countryside, at Locanda della Luna, a lovely inn set in the Turchi family’s 15th century olive oil mill. There are nine charming rooms with private bath, satellite TV, telephone, and internet access, all decorated with contemporary style. There’s also a lovely gourmet shop here, where you can buy the family’s artisan olive oil and olive products, wines, beautiful preserves and honey, all produced on the family farm. They also have a restaurant on the farm, open Thursdays through Sundays for dinner. 70Ä (for two including breakfast).
Locanda Della Luna
via Balignano, 956
Balignano di Longiano FC Italy
tel. +39 0547 665566
info@turchifarm.com
www.turchifarm.com

©Cinda Chavich 2009

Art and Spa: The Hot architecture and cool spas of scottsdale

Sun, 7 Jun 2009 13:13:19 -0700

SCOTTSDALE THIS SUMMER – ECO-TECTURE AND ART

By CINDA CHAVICH

(SCOTTSDALE, Arizona) - Normally, I wouldn’t suggest venturing into the blistering Sonoran desert in June, but this summer may be the perfect time for starving artists and architectural buffs to go south.
With major anniversaries being celebrated in Arizona this year –honoring Paolo Soleri and Frank Lloyd Wright, two of the most innovative architectural thinkers of our time, who both lived and worked there - and the economy hitting the area’s upscale resorts hard, it’s the perfect storm for art, architecture and accommodation in Scottsdale.
Wright and Soleri, both found inspiration for their innovative design in this harsh desert landscape, and turned their theories into practical experiments, places that have lured students and scholars for decades. And this summer you can scoop up some great travel deals, while visiting architectural sites like Taliesin West and Arcosanti, to learn about organic and sustainable living.
Soleri celebrates his 90th birthday on June 21 with a three-day public event at Arcosanti, the prototype-in-progress for his theory of “arcology” – the fusion of architecture and ecology in integrated urban habitats. It’s a futuristic eco-city, a self-sustaining community for 5,000, set on a high mesa in the Sonoran Desert, 100 km north of Phoenix, a project that’s built his reputation as one of the most original urban designers.
Cosanti is the site of Soleri’s first experiments in the desert, a collection of cast concrete domes where the architect has lived since settling here in 1956. It’s home to Soleri’s not-for-profit educational foundation and an Arizona historic site that’s open to the public for tours, a collection of unique structures that recall both Gaudi and Picasso in their organic forms.
More than 100 students and artists from around the world sign up for five-week workshops at Arcosanti every year, to study with Soleri, work and live in his model desert community.
Like these students, Soleri originally came to Arizona to work with another of the world’s progressive architects, Frank Lloyd Wright, but soon left Wright’s Taliesin West to pursue his own divergent philosophies.
Like Soleri, Wright also advocated learning by doing – it was devoted apprentices who built his summer home, Taliesin West, in the Arizona desert outside Scottsdale. Wright’s unique desert home, and the communal campus which still lures aspiring architectural students, is now open for regular tours.
What’s particularly interesting is the desert tour of student shelters, the unique individual dwellings created by students over the last 70 years. This summer, as part of a special 50th anniversary of the Guggenheim Museum in New York, Wright’s most famed design, there’s a special exhibit celebrating his work, and a separate display including models and photos of student shelters, entitled Learning by Doing.

THE LESS IS MORE EXPERIENCE:
In Scottsdale, Arizona, there are several ways to experience the organic architecture inspired by visionaries like Paolo Soleri and Frank Lloyd Wright. Here are a few places to start:

CELEBRATE SOLERI – Join Paolo Soleri June 19-21 to celebrate his 90th birthday at Arcosanti – a solstice weekend complete with entertainment, educational programs and a gathering of Arcostanti alumni, at the site, 100 km north of Phoenix. Or visit anytime for one of six daily tours. 928-632-6225.

ARCONSANTI WORKSHOPS – Serious students can immerse themselves in Soleri’s arcology at one of his one- to five-week workshops on site, complete with seminars with Paolo Soleri, hands-on construction work and dorm-style room and board. 928-632-6233 or workshop@arconsanti.org

EAT, SING, SLEEP – Even if hands-on construction isn’t your thing, you can still visit Arconsanti, or take in a concert at the Colly Soleri Music Center, complete with a tour of the facility and dinner. You can stay - rent an inexpensive room with shared bath (from $30) or choose the Sky Suite, a two-bedroom apartment with views over the desert ($100/night including breakfast for two). www.arcosanti.org

COSANTI – Come to Cosanti, in the heart of Scottsdale, for a tour of Soleri’s bell-making foundry or just to walk the peaceful pathways among his variations on the earth-cast dome. Buy a bell to support the cause from the gallery. 80-948-6145

THE LLOYD WRIGHT EXPERIENCE – Frank Lloyd Wright’s winter home and campus, Taliesin West, makes for an intriguing tour (and great gift store shopping experience). Built by Wright and his apprentices in the 1930s, the sprawling complex was created using local desert stone and sand and is considered one of the architect’s greatest works. Various tours of Wright’s home, the drafting studio, theatres and student-built structures in the surrounding desert are available. www.franklloydwright.org

MID-CENTURY MODERN – If you’re looking for a more luxurious space to contemplate the minimalist, modern architecture of the desert, escape to the Sanctuary on Camelback Mountain, with it’s zen-like spa and cool casitas (designed in the 1950s by one of Frank Lloyd Wright’s students). Or check in to Valley Ho, the funky 1950s hotel in downtown Scottsdale that’s been restored to its former mid-century glory, complete with retro-inspired rooms and an olive-shaped pool.

MORE MODERN ART IN SCOTTSDALE – The Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art (SMoCA) celebrates it’s 10th anniversary this year. Housed in its own visionary space (a former movie theatre repurposed into a spacious minimalist gallery) by architect Will Bruder, it’s home to and outdoor sculpture garden featuring James Turrell’s skyscape viewing chamber, Knight Rise, and is devoted to protecting the area’s endangered pool of world-class mid-century modern architecture.

©Cinda Chavich 2009

Travel news: Michelin releases Alberta guide

Wed, 6 May 2009 14:43:05 -0700

Looking for the inside scoop on hiking the Rockies, tracking dinosaurs in the badlands or saddling up for the annual Calgary Stampede rodeo?
You’ll want a copy of the new Michelin Green Guide to Alberta and the Rockies in your back pocket.
Just released this spring, the Alberta guide joins other recent Michelin publications covering Canada’s Atlantic provinces, Ontario and British Columbia.
Penned by top Calgary travel writer Susan Mate with contributions from Margaret Lemay and Susan Scott, the slim volume offers a comprehensive guide to the province, including driving tours, nature, history, art, culture and attractions from Fort MacMurray in the north to Waterton Lakes National Park in the south.
Unlike Michelin red guides, which focus on restaurants and hotels, the green guides offer their famous star ratings to sites, attractions and tours.
You’ll learn Alberta’s history, from the great ice ages that sculpted its landscape millions of years ago, leaving exposed badlands and ancient dinosaur beds that are among the most well preserved in the world, to the the province’s cattle-producing and oil-producing roots.
The guide covers all kinds of touring, whether you’re ready to scale a mountain peak, fish for trophy trout or just spend some down time at a serene mountain hot spring or spa.
It’s perfect to carry in the car, whether you’re arriving in Alberta from away, or you’re just hoping for a better “staycation” in your own back yard.
Green guides from the Michelin tire people have been around since 1926 but this is a first for Alberta.

Michelin Alberta and the Rockies
$19.95
www.ViaMichelin.com

photos by Cinda Chavich Local culture: Mardi Gras for kids

Wed, 25 Feb 2009 06:12:08 -0800

FAMILY STYLE CELEBRATIONS IN CAJUN COUNTRY

By CINDA CHAVICH

(LAKE CHARLES, LOUISIANA) - “Trow me sumpin’ mistah,” a small boy lisps, his bead-laden arms stretched skyward as flat-bed floats snake down main street in the Lake Charles Children’s Parade.
The sidewalks are lined with parents and kids, some clutching upturned umbrellas like buckets to snag the colorful jewels and trinkets that rain down, others scrambling to scoop the glittery loot from the pavement. Friends and neighbors, from local banks and Kiwanis clubs, many with their own kids in tow, are the bearers and sharers of this bounty of beads, flinging handfuls from their purple and gold plywood perches at every intersection.
This is small town Louisiana, off the beaten track, far from the usual debauchery of Fat Tuesday in the city streets of New Orleans.
There’s no public drunkenness, no bared breasts, no crazy crowds. But it’s Mardi Gras season all the same, complete with parades, squeeze box contests, gumbo feasts, and dancing in the downtown parks.
Low key, low down, low country fun.
Today’s celebration begins at dawn outside Elton, with a Mardi Gras tradition that’s unique to the rural parts of western Louisiana, and something you’ll never see in the city. In a field along a quiet country road dozens of young men, dressed in crazy costumes, gather for the annual Courier de Mardi Gras or Chicken Run, a tradition rooted in local Cajun communities.
To celebrate the season, masked men once raced from farm to farm, on horseback and on foot, begging and playfully coercing donations of chicken, boudin sausage, vegetables and rice for the community gumbo pot. Today they travel between more far flung farms on flatbed trucks but when they arrive at pre-arranged corners along the route the chaotic scene is the same at it might have been a century ago – a motley crew of revelers dancing to traditional Acadian accordion music, playing tricks and racing across the muddy fields in hot pursuit of a chicken released for the chase.
“Every year it’s a little less because the kids are gone and only people my age remember the grandparents and the old Mardi Gras,” says Maxine Guthrey, recalling a time when more than 100 relatives would gather on the family farm for the annual chicken run, as she offers chunks of warm boudin sausage to the group.
If there’s debauchery in the pre-Lenten traditions here in rural Louisiana, this is it. But despite the beer-fuelled revelry, the anonymous “runners” keep the mood playful, and it remains a spectator sport, fit for families.
Here in Cajun country, there are Mardi Gras parades in several small towns including Jennings, Vinton, Lake Arthur and Elton, leading up to Mardi Gras Day. But Lake Charles has the second largest celebration in the state.
This small city, hugging the bayou near the Texas border, was hit hard by hurricanes Katrina and Rita, in 2005, and again by storm surges in 2008, but is rebounding with a $5.6 million downtown revitalization project and a new airport. The city’s downtown historic district has some interesting new shops and restaurants, and makes a good vantage point to watch the grande finale Krewe of Krewes Parade.
The celebrations are ongoing for the weeks leading up to Mardi Gras Day, this year Feb. 24.
Plan to take the family to the local Mardi Gras museum, which sprawls through the old hallways and classrooms of the circa-1912 Central School. Here you’ll find the massive plumed headdresses, elaborately-constructed costumes and sequined gowns of former Mardi Gras kings and queens, retired here by the local krewes over the past 30 years.
Then hit the Delicious Donuts Bakery to taste a cream-filled Mardi Gras King Cake, and browse through the local Party Time Store for your own glittery disguise.
On the eve of Mardi Gras, in the local civic centre, the royal courts of more than 40 krewes gather in all of their finery for a glittering promenade at the Lake Charles Gala.
A group of 12th Night Revelers dressed like court jesters lead the parade through the darkened arena while fans crowd the bleachers. The mood is festive, the music jazzy, as kings and queens strut their stuff, bejeweled trains and a parade of colourful courtiers following in their elaborate wakes.
The youngest Miss Mardi Gras princess, in her peaked rhinestone crown and royal ermine cape, nods and slumps into her throne, fast asleep, as the parade of local “royalty” streams by to bow before her.
Many of us feel the same way after a long day of celebrations that began at dawn, but there will be another king cake, another party and another parade somewhere in southernwestern Lousiana tomorrow.
Let the good times roll!

IF YOU GO:
Fly Continental Airlines into Lake Charles Regional Airport then head south into Cajun country on Interstate 10, for the rural Cajun experience. Stop at the tourist information centre in Jennings – set in a restored 18th-century Acadian cottage– for details about the small town Mardi Gras chicken runs, parades, gumbo cookoffs and Cajun music in the region (Jeff Davis Parish Tourist Commission – 1-800-264-5521) Or visit the Southwest Louisiana Mardi Gras site at www.swlamardigras.com (1-800-456-7952)

FAMILY FRIENDLY FOOD
Breakfast biscuits at Majestic Grocery, 609 Ryan St., Lake Charles, 337-439-5992
Steamboat Bill’s for traditional Cajun cuisine – This is crawfish central, with crawfish pistolette, etouffee, gumbo and piled of steamed crawdads. 1004 North Lake Shore Drive, Lake Charles, 337-494-1070
Crawfish and oyster Po’Boy sandwiches at Neptune’s Café, 1010 Main St. A , Elton, 337-758-4326
Mardi Gras King Cakes at Delicious Donuts & Bakery, 2283 Country Club Road, Lake Charles, 337-479-2986

FAMILY FRIENDLY MARDI GRAS SITES
Cajun Mardi Gras exhibit at the Zigler Museum, 411 Clara St., Jennings, LA, 318-824-0114
Learn about the history of Mardi Gras, see costumes and climb up on a parade float at the Mardi Gras Museum, 809 Kirby St., Lake Charles
Elton Children’s Mardi Gras run and parade, Feb. 14, 2009
Lake Arthur Mardi Gras Parade, Feb. 14, 2009
Jennings Mardi Gras Festival and Parade, Feb. 21, 2009
Elton Courier de Mardi Gras, Feb. 21, 2009

Food Tourism:Preserving the British pud

Tue, 9 Sep 2008 08:18:22 -0700

SWEET SURRENDER:
A trip to the Cotswolds and The Pudding Club

By CINDA CHAVICH

(Mickleton, UK) - Pudding. It’s just such a comfortable, silly, old-fashioned word. We giggle like children at the thought of “pudding wine” or “spotted dick,” and swoon as we spoon up mouthfuls of sticky toffee pud drenched in pools of warm custard sauce.
Unlike the North American term “dessert,” the very British term “pudding” – for both a steamed or baked cake and the general sweet to end a meal – just has a cheery ring to it.
So we are keen to visit The Pudding Club at Three Ways House Hotel in Mickleton in the bucolic Cotswolds. Like the lush fields and dappled woods, carpeted in bluebells and crossed with public walking paths, it’s just such a perfectly British holiday.
And quirky, too. Where else in the world do you find a club dedicated to the weekly consumption of seven old-fashioned puddings, after a special light dinner designed for the very purpose of wallowing in gut-busting, custard-slathered sweets?
Pudding Club meetings have been going on at this small hotel, every Friday night, for more than 20 years, ever since someone in the village devised the event in a fit of nostalgia for their favourite childhood puds. Think of it as a kind of slow food revolt British style, a backlash to the encroachment of “nouvelle cuisine” into the world of hearty English country cooking.
“We inherited the Pudding Club, but there’s always been a heritage of eating pudding in England,” says hotelier Peter Henderson who owns the small circa-1871 hotel with Simon Coombes and has since added “pudding theme” guest rooms to accommodate the visitors who arrive for puddng feasts and a weekend of walking it off in the country. Luckily, the hotel is located near the beginning of the famed Cotswold Way national walking trail, and makes a great base for the walking weekends offered here help balance the caloric equation.
Calories are never mentioned, but it’s likely the bottom line for so much stodgy, sweet, steamed indulgence is staggering. Just consider the classic “syrup sponge” pudding recipe - a mixture of eggs, flour and sugar, steamed in a pudding bowl and doused in Lyle’s syrup and lashings of Bird’s custard. Variations on the theme range from Christmas pudding, studded with mixed dried fruit and jam roly poly, to citrusy marmalade pudding, spotted dick (or “dog” in polite company) with raisins, squidgy chocolate pud, and gooey sticky toffee pudding with dates and caramel sauce.
Henderson says the Christmas plum pudding tradition nearly died out in the 17th century (banned by Puritans as too decadent), but was introduced by King George 1714, unleashing what might be described as a British pudding invasion. Today, any Brit of a certain vintage, or Canadian private school graduate, remembers the pudding as the one bright spot in an otherwise dreadful diet of boarding school food.
“When I was a school boy, we had a meal and a hot pudding at least once a day,” says Henderson as we work our way through several smallish – though seriously filling - servings.
“Pudding was part of our staple diet until convenience foods and desserts like frozen cheesecakes from factories came along.”
It’s not clear why – a reference to the deadly sins? – but every week the Pudding Club serves up seven traditional puddings from it’s repertoire of 113 old-fashioned recipes, and pudding heads arrive from far and wide for a fix.
“A local lady called Sheila Vincent” is the pudding maker, says Henderson, turning out enough of the simple desserts that everyone can have their fill, but there are rules. You must clean up one dessert before adding the next to your pudding bowl. Only after you’ve eaten all seven is it cricket to tuck into seconds.
The chefs parade the puddings through the dining room every 15 minutes, to rowdy whoops and cheers, and at the end of the night there’s a vote for the best of the bunch.
“It’s not a race, it’s a marathon,” says Henderson, spooning slowly and steadily from one pudding to the next, while the rest of us sit uncomfortably stuffed, our bowls still brimming.
It’s definitely a challenge for the uninitiated to consume seven puddings in one go. Even after a light meal of smoked salmon and greens I had difficulty with three scoops of the heavy steamed desserts floating in a sea of Bird’s custard. But serious pudding aficionados attend regularly – the current record is 20 portions of pudding at one sitting, set by a young male diner last June.
And while you don’t have to be a Pudding Club member to attend a meeting, the club has 1,000 members and the weekly events, for up to 70 people, book up early.
The Three Ways House Hotel also has regular guests – and a lovely modern restaurant serving creative cuisine featuring ingredients from local purveyors – but it’s clear that pudding is a big part of their business. Even on non-Pudding Club days, at least three puddings are available on the menu, and Sunday lunch always features a special pudding buffet. There are Summer Pudding dinners, chocolate-themed pudding events, and for Christmas, a Best of British menu, complete with a Boxing Day Pudding Club feast with Bread and Butter pudding, Lord Randalls (apricot and marmalade pudding), and flaming plum pudding.
The hotel has also designed seven whimsical pudding “theme” rooms – individual studies in trompe l’oiel and eccentric visual puns. The classic Syrup Sponge pudding room is awash in golden syrupy satins, with a golden valance dripping over the bed, a vintage Lyle’s golden syrup poster on the wall and a stuffed lion (from the classic label) lounging among the bolsters on the bed. The Summer Pudding room is festooned with strawberry fields and fluffy clouds, with a big berry headboard. And in Spotted Dick/Dog, there are Dalmatians around every custard-yellow corner, and a rendition of the recipe artfully scrawled on the cupboard doors that hide bunk beds for the kids.
“Our mission here is to preserve the heritage of the traditional English pudding,” says Henderson.
By George, I think he’s got it!

OF YOU GO:
Three Ways House and The Pudding Club is located in the village of Mickleton, 90 minutes northeast of London and just 4 km from the historic market town of Chipping Campden, starting point for the Cotswold Way national walking trail (www.nationaltrail.co.uk/Cotswold/)

Three Ways House is located in the centre of Mickleton on the B4632 Stratford to Broadway road. Head west of London on the M4, then follow the M25 to M40 north to Warwick. From Warwick, follow the A3400 south to B4632 and the village of Mickleton.

You don’t need to be a pudding club member to attend the Friday night “meetings” – complete with seven puddings and light dinner for £28 pp. A special two-night Pudding Club Weekend Break, including two places at the Friday night Pudding Club, dinner in the hotel restaurant on Saturday and breakfast is £190 in a standard room).

Regular Cotswold Walking Weekends include a pudding club meeting, followed by two 14-22 km walks, dinner and accommodation starting at £199 pp.

(www.puddingclub.com)

This story appeared in the Globe and Mail newspaper in Sept. 2008

©Cinda Chavich 2008
www.tastereport.com

Food tourism: A slow-food tour of Piedmonte

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 09:26:35 -0700

SLOW GOING: Piemonte is home to white truffles, Barolo and a university of Slow Food

By CINDA CHAVICH

(Turin, Italy) - For anyone interested in local, artisan food, a tour through the vineyards and valleys of Italy’s Piedmont region is a must.
Not only is Piedmont home to Barolo and Barbaresco – arguably two of the world’s top wines – the rare white truffles of Alba are found here, there are massive Piemontese cattle for steamy bolito misto dinners, the world’s snail capital, and a town where the region’s famed hazelnut and chocolate confections have become a global business.
Piemonte is also ground zero for the Slow Food movement, where founder Carlos Petrini and his followers have created the international Slow Food university – a monument to the subject of good food, carefully and authentically prepared, made or grown - and where every two years Slow Food devotees gather to celebrate artisan food producers and farmers from every corner of the world.
With a car, and a few well-planned days, you can explore Piedmont’s famous food and wine, with your wine-tastings interspersed with visits to some of the finest food shops and restaurants in the land.
From Turin, the road heads south to Asti, Alba, Dogliani and Bra, and it is within the tight triangle of the towns – the Langhe - where we find the slow life alive and well.

TURIN’S TREASURES
The appreciation of fine food isn’t new to Turin, for this now industrial city (home to the original 1899 Fiat factory), was also the capital of the Kingdom of Savoy until Italy was unified in 1864. So despite its reputation as Italy’s car capital, Turin has taste for the finer things.
Chocolatier Guido Gobino is a case in point. Gobino has perfected the giandujotto, the traditional chocolate and hazelnut confection that morphed into the spherical sweet we all know as Ferrero Rocher.
Giandujotto is a classic regional specialty, created in the late 1800s using the fragrant hazelnuts grown in the Langhe region. A visit to Gobino’s historic shop in downtown Turin is essential, both to taste his beautifully-presented products and to enjoy his chocolate “experience” – a small sensory museum devoted to the cocoa bean. www.guidogobino.it
While Turin has its share of elegant, historic architecture, several industrial areas were redeveloped for the 2006 Winter Olympics and now house new businesses in modern, architecturally stunning spaces.
Eataly is one of the most memorable spots – a repurposed vermouth factory that now houses the world’s first slow food supermarket.Set up like an outdoor market place, complete with a fresh pasta shop, meat market, fish shop and “out door” vegetable stands beneath a vaulted glass roof, Eataly is a food lover’s dream. Not only can you learn everything about the local, artisan products of Italy, there are tasting bars throughout the sprawling space where you can sit down to taste everything from the local handmade pasta to seasonal specialties like white truffles or oysters. A forest of whole prosciutto hams hangs in the deli, and the cheese counter overflows with wheels of every Italian cheese imaginable. Don’t miss the fine wine shop downstairs. www.eatalytorino.it

SLOW FOOD 101
The Slow Food movement arose in Italy in 1986 – a spontaneous backlash to the arrival of fast food giant Macdonald’s, a symbol of the the pervasive “virus” of the fast life, and in defense of regional food traditions and the time needed to make and enjoy them.
The movement is now global and Petrini’s University of Gastronomic Sciences, located in Pollenzo, near the slow food headquarters in Bra, this is a must-see on the food route. www.unisg.it
Opened in 2004, the university, with its elegant restaurant and four-star hotel, is set in a restored country estate, built in 1830 for the then King of Savoy. The campus, which attracts students from around the world, is dedicated entirely to the study of food culture and gastronomy, with an emphasis on sustainable farming. Tour the spectacular cellar – the “Wine Bank” holds wines from 300 Italian producers – and visit Guido restaurant for traditional Piemontese dishes and innovative seafood creations. Don’t miss the tender hand-pinched agnolotti plin filled with pork, beef and rabbit. www.guidoristorante.it wwwalbergoagenzia.it

ASTI AND ENVIRONS
Paulo Saracco is the King of Moscato, taking this the sweet low-alcohol sparkler from Asti into new premium territory. The aromatic grape makes a beguiling still aperitif, too – the famed Moscato d’Asti - sweet yet mouth watering, here in the poor soils in vineyards that are almost vertical, and Saracco is one of 50 producers who still coax a crop from the steep, terraced terrain.
The village Castiglione Tinella, with its ancient streets and small Albergo Castiglione hotel, makes a good base for exploring Asti or neighboring Roero.
Plan to eat in the restaurant of the Bottega del Vino here, or you can have a simple meal or a glass of wine at the tiny Verde Rame Osteria.
Otherwise plant to stay at the Villa Tiboldi outside Canale, an elegant inn next to Malvira winery. With a fine restaurant and cooking school, this is the perfect place for a foodie in truffle season. (www.villatiboli.it)

TASTING TRUFFLES
While Alba is home to the Ferrero Rocher factory – turning out the familiar foil-wrapped bonbons and Nutella for the world – it is the white truffle of Alba that is most revered food product from this region.
During truffle season – from October through to December – international buyers, chefs and food lovers converge on Alba to obtain the freshest and largest specimens of tartufo bianco, the world’s most expensive and rare mushroom. There are weekend truffle markets in the narrow medieval streets of Alba, and truffle menus in restaurants throughout the region, where you can have a few grams of the aromatic, musky fungus shaved over your plate of pasta for a mere 40-50 euros.
But perhaps the best place to enjoy your truffle fix is in the Michelin starred All’Enoteca, chef David Palluda’s stellar restaurant above Roero’s Enoteca Regionale in Canale, an elegant room with impeccable service and incredible food.
After an amuse bouche – paper cones of crispy fried anchovies and a bite of tuna and roasted yellow pepper - there’s a litany of delicacies, from rare duck breast topped artfully with foie gras to an addictive combination of soft boiled egg, cheese fonduta and shaved white truffles, a simple combination defies description. Wildly expensive but unforgettable.

DINING IN DOGLIANI AND ENVIRONS
While not every town has an important restaurant, most have a communal enoteca or bottega where you can taste the local wine.
In Dogliani, the Bottega del Vino is located in the vaulted cellars beneath the historic town hall, a former 16th-century monastery, where you can taste wine from nearly 50 local producers.
Piedmonte literally translates as “at the foot of the mountains” and nowhere is this more evident than in the steep vineyards of Dogliani, gateway to the “Alta (upper) Langhe”. The rugged landscape has long been home to small family farms, growers who work their steep vineyards by hand, using traditional methods. Hazelnut trees grow among the vineyards and it’s common to find nuts for sale in the fall, alongside the new wine. You’ll also find the local hazelnut cake – torta di nocciole – on every menu.
The cheeses made here are “mountain style” – the Castelmango made from the milk of cows that graze in high alpine meadows, and the Murazzano from sheep’s milk. On the menu at small local restaurants, like Trattoria Marsupino in Briaglia, you’ll find the local cheeses in fonduta – cheese sauces – served over the local hand-cut tagliatelle pasta or agnolotti.

SNAIL CITY
Cherasco is another of Piedmont’s pretty hilltop towns – home to museums and galleries set in medieval palaces, and the International Snail Culture Institute was born, snail capital of the world. But even if lumache in garlic butter aren’t your style, you’ll want to check out the chocolate versions at Barbero, a charming historic chocolate and pastry shop (on the national registry of historic shops) where they specialize in combining the local hazelnuts with chocolate in all kinds of confections. Bring home a bag of their dark chocolate kisses (Baci di Cherasco, made here since 1881) for someone you love.

BARBARESCO AND BAROLO
Go 10 km north from Alba and you’re in Barbaresco. Go south and you’re in Barolo.
The former is the kind of gorgeous hilltop hamlet that says Italy – sitting high above the Nebbiolo vineyards that are shrouded in fog first thing in the morning. Step into the Produttori del Barbaresco, the local co-operative of 50 producers, known for their fine wines, to taste. Then stay for lunch next door at Trattoria Antica Torre, where the hand-rolled and cut tarajin noodles are part of every meal, and in truffle season they let you select your own truffle at the table, then buy it and shave it over your meal at will.
Continue along the Tanaro River to Rocchetta Tanaro, to visit Braida’s winery to taste their oak-aged Barbera, and dine at the wonderful trattoria run by the Bologna family. Not only do they have a “cellar” in the dining room where you can choose your own bottle, the specialties, like Vitello con Tonno (pink slices of veal with a creamy tuna sauce) and tiny, hand pinched agnolotti del plin may be the best you’ll ever taste. Don’t miss the crispy grissini and mother-in-law’s tongues at the local Fongo family bakery.

HOLY COWS
The beef in these parts comes from the celebrated “fat ox”, the local Bovine di Razza Piemontese.
At an average of 2,000 pounds when mature, this may well be the beef world’s largest breed. It’s the kind of artisan beef you’ll see on the meat counter at the Eataly slow food supermarket in Turin. And it’s the cow that’s paraded through the streets of Carrù every December, scrubbed and draped in finery, before the annual show and sale.
It’s also here that you can indulge in a regional dish – the famous bollito misto. At Vascello d’Oro, carts piled with steaming bits of boiled beef and root vegetables roll past your table and waiters carve slabs of beef cheeks, tongue and other oddly recognizable bits, to serve alongside the intense Dolcettos of Dogliani.

It’s clear Italians have a far more visceral connection to their local ingredients than we do.
That’s also evident in Dogliani during the annual La Cisrà festival held in the market square in November to celebrate the harvest. Like they have for hundreds of years, the locals gather to share big bowls of traditional tripe and garbanzo been soup, the kind of food that once sustained the peasant farmers who brought their produce here at the end of every season.

(This story first appeared in Wine Access magazine)

©Cinda Chavich 2008

ECO-ADVENTURES: Bobbing for belugas

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 07:53:02 -0700

By CINDA CHAVICH

(CHURCHILL, Manitoba) – It’s raining hard as we head out through the grey swells toward Hudson Bay and, like me, my expensive digital camera is tightly swaddled in waterproof material.
The camera is sealed in a plastic dry bag. I’m zipped into a neoprene wetsuit, a thick second skin designed to guard my limbs from the shock of icy arctic water. I’m here to swim with the beluga whales but, scanning the dark choppy seas and similar skies, I’m doubtful there will be any photographic evidence.
Like any wildlife watching expedition, the beluga snorkeling tours offered each summer are dependent on variables beyond the tour operators’ control, namely weather and whales. Factor in a nervous writer who can’t swim and chances are slim to none that I will actually see one of these snow white mammals under water.
But despite my very brief period afloat in the chilly northern seas, I actually do see the ghostly greenish glow of belugas through the dark water before I clumsily haul myself back into the boat. And while my three tour mates continue to bob face down in the drink, gurgling happily through their snorkel tubes, I watch more whales approach our little zodiac from the top side, their bright white and grey backs breaking the dark surface like torpedoes.
After 40 minutes in the frigid water we’re all back in the boat, watching whales in the rain. It’s not a picture postcard day, but the belugas are all around us, and it’s a thrilling experience to see so much wildlife in one small spot.
This is the best place in the world to swim with these friendly white whales. More than 3,000 individuals summer in the Churchill River Estuary and Mike Macri, a photographer who runs Sea North whale-watching tours throughout July and August, says he sees belugas here every day.
He has the stunning photographs to prove it – dozens of individuals floating beneath the clear, blue-green arctic water, belugas playfully bumping kayaks, and coming close enough for tourists to touch their bulbous brows.
Today’s rough weather is unusual, he says. As it turns out, tomorrow isn’t any better, and our plan to kayak with the whales is thwarted.
“I’ll be glad when you people go home,” says Macri as we approach his boat launch again the next day to join a regular whale watching tour on the Sea North II. It seems that the weather turned stormy the day our group arrived in Churchill – and it’s not until our final day, out hiking the spectacular wild flower-covered coast – that the sun finally breaks out again.
Despite the stiff winds, there are enough beluga sightings today to make our outing a success. From high above in the captain’s crow’s nest I see their fat foreheads and smiling snouts break the water before they dive again for the capelin, shrimp and whitefish feast that keeps them feeding here throughout the short arctic summer.
Macri is the local beluga expert. Before we set off, he gives an impromptu whale 101 lecture on the shore, producing some sun-bleached beluga skulls to help explain how these playful and intelligent “sea canaries” communicate, using chirping sounds to echolocate and find food up to 1,000 metres under the ice.
“Their brain is bigger than ours, and we think they’re pretty bright,” he explains, pointing to the whale’s blubbery “melon”. Belugas are also the only cetaceans that do not have fused neck bones, so they can turn their heads in all directions.
“They can move their heads up and down and side to side,” he says. “They like to get a good look at you - be prepared to get seriously checked out.”
Global warming is making life difficult for polar bears but belugas are thriving. This year there were many calves, he says, and we see small mottled babies and grey adolescents among the snowy white adults.
Whales are no longer hunted here so the belugas are not fearful of humans. Polar bears and killer whales are their main predators, the former seen more often these days hunting the three-meter whales from the rocky shores of Hudson Bay.
Polar bears prove to be especially elusive during our short, four-day visit to Churchill, despite the fact that the local population numbers nearly 1,000. One is spotted behind a hotel in town while we’re out searching the back roads for another, and locals regale us with tales of the big bears hiding under porches or breaking into their houses. But, except for stuffed specimens, our only sighting is of a mother and cub barely visible in the distance.
Still, the unseasonably cold August weather keeps the mosquitoes and black flies at bay, and there is plenty to experience here on the edge of the arctic.
For one thing, the late summer sun is rich and golden, casting its intense low light across a landscape in bloom. Here, where summer is so short, plants compress their reproduction season into a few riotous weeks of color and walking the coast is magical, the bogs dotted with orchids and lady slippers, the shining tidal flats of Hudson Bay backed by smooth glaciated rocks, and a sea of fuchsia fireweed.
This is the taiga – the sub arctic strip of between Canada’s northern boreal forest and treeless tundra – and it is a rare ecosystem, home to arctic fox, caribou, bears and birds, a stark landscape studded with stunted black spruce and dwarf tamarack, moss and electric orange lichen. Millions of Lesser Snow Geese and caribou migrate through each year. The summer sunsets are spectacular.
In tiny Churchill (pop. 750), you’ll find a rich Native culture, evident in the beautifully-beaded moccasins and hand-crafted fur hats at the Arctic Trading Company, and marvel at the incredible collection of Inuit carvings and artifacts at the historic Eskimo Museum. The Churchill Northern Studies Centre attracts working scientists and students, and offers several learning vacations for visitors, including a five-day Biology of the Beluga Whale program.
And while the polar bears aren’t gathered in one place – as they are in the late fall – you can head out in a Tundra Buggy (a bus jacked up on massive tires) in the summer, too, to look for the bears that are scattered along the shoreline. Enjoying a barbecue of caribou burgers on the tundra, as the sun sets over sweeping arctic vistas, is hard to beat, whether they cue the wildlife or not.

IF YOU GO:

Fly to Churchill on Calm Air (www.calmair.com) or take the 1,700 km (36-50-hour) journey from Winnipeg to Churchill on Via Rail that runs three times per week (www.viarail.ca)

Plan to snorkel or kayak with the belugas with Sea North Tours (www.seanorthtours.com) or hike with guide Paul Ratson of Nature 1st Tours (www.nature1sttours.ca)

Stay at the Seaport Hotel in Churchill (204-675-8807) or at the Up the Creek B&B on Goose Creek Road (204-675-2655). Webber’s Lodges also offers summer Birds, Bears and Belugas adventures on the Seal River estuary from their Seal River Heritage Lodge (www.churchillwild.com)

Gypsy’s Bakery & Deli is the local hangout for breakfast, lunch or casual dinners (from monster cinnamon buns and butter tarts to pan-fried pickerel) or dine on local specialties like caribou pepper steak and musk ox rouladen at The Lazy Bear Café (www.lazybearlodge.com)

For more information visit www.destinationchurchill.com or www.travelmanitoba.com

(This story first appeared in the Globe and Mail newspaper)

©Cinda Chavich 2008
www.tastereport.com

FOOD TOURISM: CRAWDAD SEASON IN CAJUN COUNTRY

Sun, 13 Apr 2008 19:17:26 -0700

APRIL 2008

By CINDA CHAVICH

(Lake Charles, Louisiana) - Right about now, down in the bayous of southwestern Louisiana, it’s crawfish season.  “Hot Boiled Crawfish” signs, scrawled on blackboards outside restaurants, drive-thru “boiling stations”, and crawfish etouffee on every menu says it’s spring in Cajun country – the time when those prehistoric-looking little crustaceans crawl up out of the mud, into the sunshine, and then into the pot.

The season that starts in February continues until June, with big boils and festivals at the height of fishing, in late April and early May.  Also known as, crayfish, crawdads, mud bugs, crawdaddies, and “les ecrivesses”, most of the crawfish consumed here is technically “red swamp” or “white river” crayfish, a 3-inch creature that looks exactly like a seriously down-sized Nova Scotia lobster. Little wonder the displaced Acadians (a.k.a. Cajuns) embraced them as their own.  WIGGLY JIGGLY JEWELS  If you can’t immediately face a pile of bug-like crustaceans on your plate, you might want to ease into it with a bit of local kitsch – like the anatomically-correct plastic and metal critter I found among the other oh-so-tacky souvenirs at the local party store.  This Louisiana crawdad is not exactly edible, but with googley eyes and tiny claws bouncing on miniature springs, it makes a damn decent cat toy.  A THREE-POUND PLATTER  In Cajun country, a three-pound platter of boiled crayfish (a pizza-pan sized basket piled high) is a single serving appetizer. Most cooks estimate 3-5 pounds per person for a meal but local men claim they can eat ten.  There’s not much to eat in a 2- or 3-inch mud bug – a pound of tail meat has only 80 calories and it takes some time to get at it. But the peeling ritual is pretty simple. Just break the crawfish in half and toss the head, then pinch the tail and pull out a sliver of sweet meat. Repeat (many times).  BETTER ON A BUN  Order up a crawfish Po’ Boy – the answer to the submarine sandwich in these parts. The best Po’Boys – like the ones at Neptune’s Café in Elton – are served on a soft, French-bread bun, and stuffed with sliced tomatoes, crunchy lettuce and golden, deep-fried crawfish tails. This is the easiest way to eat your crawdads, since someone else does the peeling and you’ll barely recognize the bug under all of that batter.   Another amazing way to combine your bread and crawfish is the pistolette, a small crusty roll that’s been partially hollowed out, deep fried (of course), and filled with a scoop of creamy crawfish etouffee, that classic Cajun stew thickened with spicy brown roux. Addictive and perfectly done at Steamboat Bill’s in Lake Charles.   DISCOVER YOUR INNER CATHOLIC  In Louisiana, crawfish season conveniently coincides with Lent, and the fish-on-Friday fast tradition, so the typical Friday night feed is none other than the big ole’ crawfish boil.  But its hard to understand exactly what Cajuns are giving up – what with all of the beer, corn, potatoes, peeling crawfish and general merrymaking, a crawfish boil is always a serious party.  The secret to a perfect Crawfish Boil is the spice mixture that goes into the water – a combination your average Cajun guards like the family jewels. Most cooks doctor up commercial boil mixes (like Zataran’s) which always contain copious amount of cayenne pepper. Crawfish farmer Burt Tietje admits it’s ground cloves that makes his boil special.  GET DOWN ON THE FARM  The prairie of southwestern Louisiana is as flat as Saskatchewan but not nearly as dry – in fact, solid ground quickly turns into boggy wetlands sliced with watery lakes and snaking bayous as you head south to the Gulf, which is where crawfish live in the wild.  Thanks to oil exploration, pipelines, canals and other development which is destroying Lousiana’s wetlands (experts estimate that 75 square kilometers of wetland is lost each year), the crayfish industry has moved onto the farm – specifically into the off-season rice fields. Crayfish are “seeded” into the ponds before rice is planted in the spring and the adults burrow into the mud before the fields are drained. After the rice harvest, the ponds are re-flooded in the fall and a new crop of mud bugs emerge, to be trapped in conical wire traps, between January and June. Farmers cruise their fields in amphibious crawfish combines – a hybrid boat with wheels – to empty traps every day or two.  Most of the crawdads consumed in the US come from Louisiana and 85 per cent of the crawfish harvest comes from farms – more than 100 million pounds of mud bugs a year. Harvest peaks between March and May. Plan a group Crawfish Tour (20 or more) and visit a working crawfish farm, then help cook crawfish (1-800-264-5521).  HIT THE BOILING POINT  In crawfish season, temporary “boiling points” pop up on backroads across southern Louisiana. These are basic drive-thru crawdad stands, where you can pick up a 10-pound brown paper bag of hot, steamy crayfish, spiced up with lemon and seasoning, for a feast at home (or in your car). 
The set-up is simple – rows of giant steel vats of boiling water and spice, and hand-crank rigs that lower full sacks of crawfish into the drink, then haul them back out when they’re bright red and steamy. Get ‘em while they’re hot.   JAMBALAYA, CRAWFISH PIE, FILE GUMBO
Like the old Hank Williams song says, it’s all good. But tonight “my cher ami-o” is that tender little crawfish tail smothered in a creamy etouffee and crisply deep fried, like they do so well in the South. At casual local restaurants, like Nott’s Corner in Lake Arthur, the fried eggplant piroque is a divine dish, topped with a creamy scoop of crawfish etouffee. This is about as fancy as crawfish cuisine gets, but there’s also crawfish bisque, even crawfish cocktail. Get serious and order the Crawfish Platter, plates of crawfish tails fried in crispy batter, crawfish pies (turnovers) filled with spicy bits of crawfish meat, and piles of local rice topped with an etouffee of tender tail meat and sauce, enriched with the crawfish “fat” that adds to the love affair.   CHEAPER BY THE SACK  A sack of live crawfish weighs about 30-40 pounds – big mesh bags filled with a scrabbling cargo.  Buy crawfish live, direct from the farm or a regional distributor. The price bounces between $.50 and $2 a pound, depending on supply, demand and size. Wild crawfish come out of the Atchafalaya River Basin but the catch is down this year, keeping prices high, but not as high as 2006. After Katrina, then Rita, smacked into the rural southwest, crawdads were scarce – a 35-pound sack cost $100 instead of the usual $25.  A sack should 6-8 hungry Cajuns, with the requisite corn and potatoes in the boiling pot. Mudbugs are purged in salt water and rinsed with a garden hose, before boiling with lemons and spices in big outdoor cauldrons set on portable propane burners, then fired into a cooler (aka ice chest) for 10 minutes to steam.  Pour the whole soggy mess out on a picnic table, covered with newspapers, and dig in.  
GUMBO YA YA  Gumbo is synonymous with family gatherings in Cajun country and nothing says rural Louisiana like a seafood gumbo loaded with Gulf shrimp, crabmeat and, of course, crawfish tails.  To make gumbo from scratch, as most Cajun cooks always say, start with a roux. In Jennings, the local Southern Bar-B-Que company makes roux in a jar (and sells it at Wal-Mart where you’ll also find frozen, peeled crawfish tails). Or enjoy a thick bowl of homestyle seafood gumbo at Cajun Tales Seafood Restaurant in Welsh, where there’s also fried alligator, crawfish cocktail and etoufee on the menu (www.southerngumbotrail.com).  THE MUD AND THE BUGS AND THE BEER  After a couple of cool Abita Ambers (the craft beer down here), it’s really no problem to suck a mud bug – that is, put your lips around the severed head, inhale and enjoy all of the bright yellow “fat” and juicy spice that lies within.  Only serious Cajun wannabes and experts need to perfect this art but you will get into the groove if you sign up for the crawfish eating contest at the 48th Annual Crawfish Festival May 2-4 in Breaux Bridge. Laissez les bon temps rouler!

(This story first appeared in the Globe and Mail newspaper)

©Cinda Chavich 2008
www.tastereport.com

LOCAL CULTURE: Hawai’i’s historic hula

Mon, 11 Feb 2008 15:11:25 -0800

HULA – CELEBRATING THE SPIRIT OF ALOHA

By CINDA CHAVICH

(BIG ISLAND, HAWAI’I) - Hawai’ians like to speak about the Spirit of Aloha – a kind of traditional belief system that embodies island life.
When the word aloha started appearing in the salutations of emails from people helping me plan my trip to the Big Island, I dismissed it as the local version of the habitual “have a nice day”. But aloha – the local greeting but also translated as “love” – is really the embodiment Hawai’ian heritage. And after exploring culture with native Hawai’ians here, it was that rich, spiritual side of island life that stayed with me.
Kilohana Domingo chants a blessing to the ancients, as we hike through the scrubby forest near his guest house, searching for plants to make braided haku leis. It’s a stark, blackened landscape but if you look closely you seen beauty - spiky red Pua lehua flowers, sword ferns and tiny succulent plants pushing up through cracks in the old lava beds.
“For me, leis are about sharing, an expression of your aloha,” says Domingo as we sit on his shady porch, weaving the leaves and flowers into the kind of anklets and head pieces he wore as a competitive hula dancer. “I have a hula brother who made a lei out of only those pua ko flowers, and sometimes I have access to mau mani, little yellow flowers, but leis of flowers and paper and silk yarn are done the same way.”
The art of lei making and weaving – Domingo is a master lei maker who received a Smithsonian fellowship for his feather work and his mother Lehua is an accomplished weaver – is all connected to hula, and the dance is central to the Hawai’ian tradition of story telling through music, chanting and hand movements.
“I made leis because of hula – we had to make our own for hula school,” he explains, pointing to a wall displaying colourful necklaces made with feathers, shells or fat black kukui (candle nuts). “Historically, it was flowers or leaves but seaweed that went into the leis when we were dancing about the sea, and if the chant is about bird catchers, we wore feathers.”
Despite the Americanization and commercialization of the islands over two centuries of occupation, a new generation of Hawai’ians is now determined to revive that sacred spirit, by reviving the language and the sensuous, and sometimes athletic, dance called hula. While hula is at the core of the Hawai’ian oral tradition and identity, zealous missionaries, offended by the idea of men and women dancing together to honor ancient gods, banned in it in the early 1800s.
In later years, hula was appropriated for hotel lu’aus and Hollywood movies, the ancient and traditional hula kahiko replaced by a kind of modern hula dancing and music designed for pure entertainment.
By the 1950s, hula had become almost a caricature of Hawai’ian life, immortalized in jiggling hula lamps and dashboard figurines. But today, traditional hula is on the cutting edge of the Hawaiian Renaissance – a revelation for the uninitiated visitor, offering a fascinating immersion into living Hawai’ian history.
Domingo’s degree in Hawai’ian Studies lets him offer language classes and cultural workshops from his home near South Point, a sacred part of the island where the first Polynesians arrived nearly 2,000 years ago. It’s a windswept spot, near the famous Green Sand Beach, where you’ll find sacred burial mounds dedicated to elders.
“When I was growing up, my parents weren’t allowed to speak Hawai’ian in public,” says Domingo, offering a traditional chant to show respect as we approach the cairn on a windy cliff, topped with coral, whales carved in wood and pukka shell leis.
While Hawai’ians are open to sharing their culture, it’s clear that some parts of their world are private and sacred, not designed for general consumption. While some sacred sites are public – like the spectacular Place of Refuge and Puako Petroglyph Park, where thousands of ancient petroglyphs are etched into a sea of lava – outsiders should treat these places with respect.
Our introduction to the traditional hula – danced in long ti leaf skirts at the edge of the Kilauea crater, with the ancient chants and thumping of fat gourd drums called Ipu – was the religious experience it was meant to be, powerful and meaningful, and far more than the usual Kodak moment for tourists. While it may be impossible for and outsider to follow the poetic stories, told in the multi-syllabic, vowel-strewn Hawai’ian language, the power of the ancient dance is palpable.
Hula is a strict discipline, practiced by both men and women, and taught by revered hula masters. The expressive hand movements, stomping feet and songs were originally designed to honor high chiefs and powerful spirits – like the goddesses Laka and Pele – while passing on the historical sagas and legends to their mortal audiences.
Colourful battery-operated hula dancers are still on offer at Hilo Hattie, the mother of all Hawai’ian souvenir stores in Hilo, but this island largest city is also home to the Super Bowl of hula competitions, the annual Merrie Monarch Hula Festival. Held each year the week after Easter (this year March 30 to April 5, 2008), the festival brings together hundreds of the best hula dancers from around the world, for a kind of powwow for indigenous South Seas dancers. Performers from more than 30 hula groups or halau compete on stage in the local stadium, and there are hula classes for beginners taught by the experts at local hotels, plus a Miss Aloha Hula competition and Merrie Monarch parade.
Founded more than 40 years ago to celebrate this unique expression of Hawai’ian culture, it’s Hilo’s biggest annual event and tickets sell out months in advance.
Hula dancers not only study with masters for many years to learn the language and stories, they create their own costumes, natural braided haku leis and head dresses to accompany each hula dance. Both kinds of hula is showcased at the Merrie Monarch festival - the ancient hula kahiko designed to honor elders or commemorate important events, and the lively ‘auana hula, set to modern ukulele and slack-key guitar music, for pure entertainment.
Dedicated to King David Kalakaua, the Hawai’ian monarch who resurrected traditional hula at his coronation in 1883 after it was banned, the festival has been a catalyst for the rebirth of Hawai’ian traditions. It’s a full week of festivities, and the place to see authentic Hawai’ian culture in action, men and women performing, and competing, in an art form that is both exciting and sacred.
And learning about hula is a great way to get in touch with your beautiful, serene, island side – that magical Hawai’ian spirit of aloha.

GETTING THERE: Until mid-April, Air Canada has weekly non-stop service between Vancouver and Kona leaving every Saturday night. www.aircanada.com
Or fly direct to Kona on the Big Island with Westjet (Westjet Vacations offers a 7-night package at the Fairmont Orchid for $1990 pp).

HULA SIGHTINGS: Make sure to order tickets in advance for festival events The Merrie
Monarch Hula Festival is held each spring in the Kanaka’ole Stadium in Hilo, on the Big Island. (www.merriemonarchfestival.org) – proceeds support local educational scholarships, workshops and cultural symposiums.
Other classic spots to see authentic hula include the regular traditional performances at the historic Volcano Art Center (www.volcanoartcenter.org) or the Kupuna Hula Festival held in September for elders (www.alohafestivals.com)

LEARN HULA FROM A MASTER:
Renowned hula instructor Robert Cazimero will teach hula workshops at Kalaekilohana Bed and Breakfast Feb. 15-17, 2008. This rare opportunity to learn hula from the one of the world's most respected kumu hula is being offered as part of Kalaekilohana's 2008 From the Source: Hawaiian Culture in Ka'u Series. Special suite and workshop packages are available, and day students are accepted. Space is limited. For information, visit www.kau-hawaii.com or call (808) 939-8052.

LODGING:
Kalaekilohana, South Point Road: For a personal immersion in Hawai’ian life, stay with Kilohana Domingo and Kenny Joyce at their contemporary guest house, set in the countryside near the dramatic southern tip of the island, Ka Lae, where the first Polynesians landed and settled. Kilohana is a Native Hawai’ian master feather worker and holds degree in Hawai’ian studies, teaches languages classes and will even show you how to make a traditional haku lei for hula during your stay. Suites $139-159 (www.kau-hawaii.com; 808-939-8052).

Hilo Hawai’ian Hotel, Hilo: This is Hilo’s luxury hotel – overlooking Coconut Island in the bay and featuring the excellent Queen’s Court restaurant. Site of several Merrie Monarch festival events in the city. 1-800-367-5004.

Fairmont Orchid, Kohala Coast: The Fairmont Orchid offers now all-girl “get-a-sways” with daily oceanfront hula lessons ($978/night for four).
While this is opposite Hilo on the island, it is a spectacular place to stay, near the airport and the great restaurants in Waimea. The beach here is one of the best places on the island to snorkel with green sea turtles, and dinner on the beach-side terrace is truly magical. They also host a spectacular dinner show – their Gathering of the Kings lu’au celebrates Polynesian history and culture, Broadway style. 808-885-2000; www.fairmont.com/orchid

DINING:
For the finest gourmet cuisine, head to Merriman’s in Waimea for chef Peter Merriman’s creative use of fresh local ingredients – surely the island’s top table (808-885-6822).
Jackie Reys Ohana Grill is a casual spot near Kailua-Kona with top quality food – the chunky fresh tuna poke, seasoned with soy and seaweed, is addictive.
For truly local fast food, head to Tex Drive In, in historic Honoka’a, just outside of Hilo. My inexpensive and generous plate of ono kine food - from the banana leaf-wrapped tender pork and sticky rice, to the potato and macaroni salad sides – was delicious and authentic. Have one of their famous malasada doughnuts, too.

SHOPPING: Hilo Hattie in Hilo is souvenir central but for the ultimate hula collectible visit Hula Lamps of Hawai’I in Kailua-Kona, makers of unique bronze hula lamps inspired by the originals from the 1930s and ‘40s (www.hulalamps.com). Or go to Mauna Kea Galleries, a funky retro store in Waimea, for the real thing and other vintage Hawaiiana, and visit The Gallery of Great Things nearby. The artsy town of Holualoa, up a back road in the hills outside Kona, is filled with local art galleries, too.

HAWAI’IAN HISTORY: Don’t miss Pu-uhonua O Honaunau National Historic Park, a peninsula of black lava jutting out into the sea, where carved effigies guard the place where royals lived and a sanctuary – the Cities of Refuge – where lawbreakers could escape their fates by running an armed gauntlet to freedom. A powerful place.

(This story originally appeared in the Globe and Mail national newspaper)

©Cinda Chavich 2007
www.tastereport.com

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Environment: Saving the big blues of Grand Cayman

Fri, 14 Dec 2007 08:19:58 -0800

JOIN SCIENTISTS ON A BLUE DRAGON SAFARI

By CINDA CHAVICH

(Grand Cayman) - On an island that’s literally defined by shades of cerulean, cyan, azure and aquamarine, it’s no wonder that its endangered giant lizard is a lovely hue of blue.
Here on Grand Cayman, where the water and sky form a continuous canvass of brilliant blues in every direction, it may well be the best colour for camouflage. But it’s still rather shocking to confront a five-foot long creature that’s truly turquoise, from its scaly blue snout to the end of its spiky blue tail.
And while I’m amazed by this blue iguana’s remarkable colouring, perhaps even more astounding is The Blue Iguana Recovery Programme that’s helping to save the Grand Cayman Blue Iguana, the world’s most critically endangered lizard. From a wild population of only 25 in 2001, the mostly volunteer program has already reared and released more than 280 iguanas, here on a tiny Caribbean island, where economic and development pressures seem to favour space for warm-blooded tourists over cold-blooded wildlife.
“This is dry tropical forest – native Caribbean forest – and we’ve released 40 into this area,” says “iguana warden” Chris Carr, scanning the dry underbrush in the Queen Elizabeth II Botanic Park where the program is centred, as we trudge along the trails on one of his weekly Blue Dragon Safaris.
While the National Trust of the Cayman Islands (a government-supported non-profit agency charged with protecting the island’s flora, fauna, culture and history) began supporting the blue iguana breeding program in 1990, it was shocked to discover in 2001 that 90% of the wild blue iguana population had disappeared and less than 25 individuals remained. An emergency Species Recovery Plan was drafted, and while extinction seemed imminent, this rare iguana, found only on the island of Grand Cayman, has since made a remarkable recovery, thanks support from zoos and reptile experts around the world, and their ongoing program of captive breeding, field research and habitat protection.
Already, more than 280 blue iguanas have been raised in the National Trust’s Queen Elizabeth II Botanic Park, graduating from the group’s two-year “head start” program and released into the wild.
In fact, earlier this year Britain’s Prince Edward (Earl of Wessex) was on the island to see some of this year’s 116 young blue iguanas released by volunteers into the Salina Reserve, a wilderness area the National Trust recently set aside for iguana habitat.
In the Botanical Park, on Grand Cayman’s quiet east end, experts like Carr are now offering weekly guided walks, to give the public a behind-the-scenes glimpse at their work.
“That’s Shy – she’s a good breeder, lays bout 10-15 eggs a year,” says Carr as we come across our first big blue, a female basking on a grassy slope. It’s breeding season, so the iguanas’ unique bright blue colouring is even more pronounced, deepening as the big, 5-foot lizards warm themselves in the sun.
The park has interpretive trails and ponds for bird watching but it’s the iguanas, thrashing through the forest and lounging on warm rocks, that are the biggest attraction. Tiny pale blue anole lizards bounce rapidly from tree to tree as we continue hiking the limestone-lined pathways, past peeling red birch, banana orchids and ghost orchids, hanging among the smokewood and giant agave.
“Iguanas traditionally nested on beach ridges, exactly where we now have roads, houses, dogs, cats and teenagers – all bad for iguanas,” says Carr, a former medical technician who took on the program’s only paid position after a year as a volunteer.
Weekly guided tours like this are helping to support the iguana recovery program, which is run largely by volunteers. Other schemes, including a new sponsorship program, lets anyone name and sponsor a baby lizard for $25, or one of the larger adults, for up to $1,000.
The group also welcomes volunteers for “working holidays” to help collect food for the vegetarian lizards, clean their pens, build camouflaged concrete iguana “houses,” and track individuals in the wild, says Carr.
While the breeding program has so far been very successful, it’s hit a major snag. The growing population remains endangered - to be stable the wild population must exceed 1,000. And while The National Trust has acquired some wilderness land for iguana habitat, both the Botanic Park and the Salina Reserve are reaching their maximum carrying capacity for these solitary and territorial creatures.
“The program will grind to a halt soon if we don’t get more land,” says Carr, explaining inbreeding among the carefully controlled gene pool could destroy the population without more land for iguana habitat. Over the summer Team Blue 2007, begins radio tracking the iguanas released over the past three years, to attempt to calculate how many more blue iguanas can be squeezed into the Salinas Reserve. Meanwhile, the 30-40 animals in both wild and captive areas in the Botanic Park are providing more than 80 viable eggs each year.
“By incubating them ourselves, we’ve been able to get 100 per cent to adulthood,” adds Carr, spotting a young iguana sunning itself next to the path and stopping to make notes.
“That’s Yog – yellow, orange, green,” he says referring to the three tiny coloured beads threaded through the loose skin behind the little 8-inch iguana’s head. “Yog was born last September – we use the beads to identify them, along with microchips and high resolution photographs.”
Iguanas have a unique pattern of facial bumps and scales, as unique as a human finger print, that is helping researchers track and identify individuals. There is a sad irony in the fact that iguanas – looking like miniature dinosaurs with their prehistoric profiles - are now among the most endangered creatures on the planet. An animal that has thrived for more than three million years, now faces imminent extinction, mainly due to human intrusion into their habitat.
In the case of Grand Cayman’s blue iguanas, the island’s unique xerophytic shrubland ecosystem – the rocky, dry coastal areas of low shrubs and sandy nesting sites – is being paved over for hotels, condominium complexes and residential developments. Natural and manmade disasters – like the devastating Hurricane Ivan of 2004 and suspicious forest fires – add to the habitat pressures.
In the wild, iguanas and iguana eggs often fall prey to feral cats and rats, or domestic dogs, species introduced since the first settlers arrived here 300 years ago.
Today, twelve of the recognized 40 species of iguanas in the world – or 30 per cent – are critically endangered, meaning they will likely disappear without “urgent conservation intervention,” says Rick Hudson, director of the International Iguana Foundation (IGG), a non-profit scientific and conservation organization dedicated to saving these rare species.
The volunteers at the Grand Cayman Blue Iguana Recovery Programme are doing everything they can to make sure this unique blue lizard doesn’t become another wildlife statistic. At it’s website, www.blueiguana.ky, it puts the program’s success into stark perspective.
“The difficult issue of how to protect their last home must be addressed,” it says. “It will require a combination of public support, political commitment, and substantial sums of money.
“With their home protected, the nesting areas restored, and their numbers boosted, a thousand-strong population living natural lives in their own nature reserve, is the vision we are working towards.”

IF YOU GO:
The Blue Iguana Recovery Program is centered in the Queen Elizabeth II Botanic Park, the only national park on Grand Cayman Island, which is a 45-minute drive from the airport in George Town, about a $50 cab ride. The park is open to visitors daily for bird or iguana watching. You can join a guided Blue Dragon Safari every Tuesday to get a behind-the-scenes look at the breeding facilities with an expert, or simply hike the park to discover the free-roaming iguanas on your own.
The Salina Reserve is strictly a wildlife sanctuary, off limits to visitors and accessible only to scientists and researchers. To volunteer your time or support, contact them at their website, www.blueiguana.ky

(This story first appeared in the Toronto Globe and Mail)

©Cinda Chavich 2007
www.tastereport.com

Interested in publishing the stories, recipes or photos you see on this site? Email me to discuss how to get exclusive regional or syndication rights in your newspaper, magazine or online publication.

ENVIRONMENT: A SAFE place for parrots

Fri, 5 Oct 2007 23:14:39 -0700

B.C. BIRD REFUGE RESCUES HOMELESS PETS

By CINDA CHAVICH

(Coombs, B.C.) - Max sits in the corner crooning I left My Heart in San Francisco.
Ginny self-mutiliates – ripping out her own iridescent green and orange feathers like the addicts in the crack house where she was rescued. Peaches lost a wing but seems to have the run of the special needs unit, toddling around on her pigeon toes and chatting up anyone within ear shot.
Hello speaks Mandarin as his first language but is doing better than most, perhaps because nearly everyone else here knows his name and calls it out all day long, friendly greetings among a cachophony of screeching, so loud that free ear plugs are handed out to visitors at the door.
Welcome to The World Parrot Refuge, an educational facility in tiny Coombs, B.C. where Wendy Huntbatch and her non-profit For the Love of Parrots Rescue Society (FLOPRS) provides “a home for life” for more than 500 abandoned and homeless birds. It’s a unique facility, and the largest parrot refuge in the country, where an ever-growing population of unwanted pet parrots come to live, and die, and where Huntbatch is waging a one-woman war on the buying and selling of exotic birds.
“There has been an alarming increase in the number of displaced and unwanted birds in recent years,” she says. “because people have no idea how much time and energy it takes to care for these exotic, wild animals.”
What seems like a quirky story on the surface – a well-meaning and slightly eccentric red head with a penchant for homeless parrots – turns out to be just the final chapter in a sad tale of international scope. Parrots (a.k.a. cockatoos, cockatiels, macaws and other exotic psittacines) are the hottest new pet for busy urbanites. In the U.S. alone, the number of pet birds quadrupled in the 1990s, to more than 40 million by some industry estimates.
With individual birds selling for up to $15,000, the trafficking of wild birds is on the increase, too, a major part of the estimated $10-$20 billion international exotic wildlife trade, and according to the World Wildlife Fund, 94 of the world’s 330 parrot species are now threatened with extinction.
Yet despite an EU ban on importation of wild-caught birds which came into effect July 1 – a move triggered by fears of the spread of avian influenza – and a similar ban in the U.S., Canada continues to allow wild parrots to be imported as pets.
“The U.S. has had legislation against the importation of wild-caught birds since 1992 – it’s time for Canada to do the same,” says Huntbatch who is circulating a petition to stop the sale of wild parrots. Few people understand the horrors of the wild bird trade, she says, or the long term commitment of owning a parrot.
At the World Parrot Refuge, an educational facility open to tourists and school groups, the sad and graphic stories of the 500+ feathered residents are told through interpretive panels and video tapes. The over riding message is this: parrots are wild animals that deserve freedom, not caging as pets, and buying exotic birds threatens species in the wild.
Yet bird sales continue to grow by an estimated five per cent each year.
Why do so many people buy birds? Status, style and the misguided belief that a parrot is happy to live its life in a cage, and is therefore a low-maintenance pet. Nothing can be further from the truth, says Huntbatch, mixing up a batch of exotic bird feed, one of the refuge’s largest expenses.
“It costs a quarter million dollars a year to operate this place even with all of our volunteers,” she says. “Labour is the most expensive, but the food is also an issue. We have seven different seed diets, three nut diets and a variety of fruits and vegetables. Every three weeks we buy 750 pounds of nuts.”
While a parrot may not need a twice daily walk in the park, a parrot needs more care than one might imagine. For one, parrots are social creatures and mate for life, so can be extremely lonely without their flock. Birds need more than a perch and a cage – they need an aviary with room to fly. The stress of being confined in a cage can lead to excessive screaming, self-mutilation and other abnormal behaviors. And parrots, whether huge Macaws or small budgies, need special diets of fresh tropical fruit, seeds, nuts vegetables and protein, lots of toys to attack and shred.
Many bird owners discover far too late, usually when their neighbors sign a petition and their landlord complains, that birds are naturally extremely noisy and demanding. And unless you have the space to give them a life that mimics their wild habitat, and the time to devote to their care, parrots can become neurotic and extremely destructive. They can even be considered dangerous – unpredictable, and able to lop off fingers with their strong beaks.
Most people would never imagine, when they’re laying out $1,500 for that cuddly little cockatoo at the pet shop, that their precious parrot may end up here - or worse, abandoned to the never-ending purgatory of the buy-and-sell.
When that clever little chatterbox begins shredding the leather loveseat and shrieking all day long, many families simply give up on their feathered friends. Add to that the fact that most parrots will live between 40 and 90 years, even the most committed caretakers eventually must part with their parrots.
Ergo, many pet parrots end up on the resale merry-go-round, passed from owner to owner, often neglected and abused, like a difficult kid in the foster care system.
Since most animal shelters designed for cats and dogs are not able to care for birds, unwanted parrots end up with small volunteer rescue groups or in foster homes, to be re-adopted, but often not permanently.
“They can be helpful in providing a much improved home for a parrot, but generally speaking these birds end up back on the pet go around in a few years,” says Huntbatch. “We have received quite a number of parrots that have been adopted from rescue organizations and have outlived their magical presence.” 
According to bird experts, the “parrot displacement problem” (the plight of homeless parrots) is reaching epidemic proportions yet there are fewer places for unwanted parrots to land. Across Canada, two bird rescue organizations have folded this year due to lack of funds and volunteers, including Chaotic Exotics in Calgary and Wings of Hope, an Ontario-based parrot rescue group that had been operating for 13 years.
Birds from these defunct groups have also ended up at Huntbatch’s doorstep, the last resort home for the sick, difficult and aging parrot. Yet she, too, is constantly facing financial crisis – last year Revenue Canada threatened to close down the refuge for $13,000 in back taxes and recently a massive storm ripped a section of the roof from the Macaw House. An outpouring of donations from local businesses, animal lovers and a Vancouver casino paid the tax bill and helped rebuild the damaged aviary, but Huntbatch says the non-profit society continues to struggle and count on donations to keep them afloat.
Inside the huge metal-clad buildings that make up the World Parrot Refuge, birds are separated by species into colourful flocks. With it’s large indoor aviaries, each 90 feet long and filled with sculptural wooden perches, the refuge gives these intelligent birds a place to live in groups, as they do in nature, space to fly, healthy food, and care by knowledgeable staff and volunteers.
“I love this job – it’s one of a kind,” says refuge staffer David Dawson, wiring together chunks of red-barked arbutus wood with colourful recycled childrens’ toys to create the kind of perches that parrots love to inspect and destroy. “They love to shred bright stuffed toys – it keeps their beak sharp and strong.”
Kids cover their ears as a pastel sulphur-crested cockatoo leaps along the chain link enclosure, shrieking and displaying its fan of golden head feathers. Huntbatch coos to Ester, a talkative bird being treated for cancer, and balances a massive blue macaw on her outstretched arm, it’s iridescent tail feathers almost grazing the ground.
Even extremely stressed and abused birds, some plucked almost naked when they arrive, can recover and lead a “normal” life here among the security of the flock, with proper food and medical care, she says.
Sadly, the parrots that do survive here as pets are often scooped from the wild by poachers in the poorest regions of southeast Asia and South America. After guns and drugs, exotic wildlife is the world’s largest illegal trafficking problem.
Parrots, or psittacines, are found in tropical or semi-tropical regions around the globe, according to the Worldwatch Institute, nearly one-third of the world’s 330 parrot species are threatened with extinction as a result of habitat destruction and pressures from the pet trade.
The Species Survival Network, a global coalition of wildlife conservation groups, says more than 40,000 wild Senegal parrots enter the international pet trade each year despite the fact that CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species) prohibits trade in over 40 species. The yellow-crested Cockatoo of East Timor and Indonesia is close to extinction as a result of trapping and poaching for the pet trade, and the Spix’s Macaw of Brazil is already extinct in the wild. The popular African Grey Parrot is also a threatened species, and in Bolivia, the endangered red-fronted Macaw is protected under a new conservation program.
While the majority of birds sold in pet stores are captive-bred, conservationists say breeding parrots contributes to poaching, smuggling and the homeless parrot problem, by feeding consumer demand. An Amazon parrot may fetch $750 US in a pet store, but only nets a trapper about $10, and the WWF says up to 60 per cent of wild-caught birds die in transit.
It’s a pet industry myth, says Huntbatch, that hand-raised baby birds are tame or bond better with humans, because parrots are not domesticated animals. Only the lucky ones make it through the pet trade system to loving homes or safe havens like the World Parrot Refuge.
The goal of the refuge, Huntbatch says, is to educate the public about the problems facing both wild and pet parrots. It costs about $500 per year to house one parrot here and the non-profit group is always looking for new ways to keep the refuge operating, from food and used toy drives, to “virtual adoption” schemes.
For now, they’re getting by on a wing and a prayer.

www.worldparrotrefuge.org

(This story first appeared in the Toronto Globe and Mail)

©Cinda Chavich 2007
www.tastereport.com

Interested in publishing the stories, recipes or photos you see on this site? Email me to discuss how to get exclusive regional or syndication rights in your newspaper, magazine or online publication.

FOOD TOURISM: LOCAL fLAVOUR in cowboy country

Fri, 5 Oct 2007 16:01:55 -0700

WINNER OF THE 2007 ALBERTA TOURISM ALTO AWARD FOR TOURISM MEDIA!
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HAPPY (AND TASTEY) TRAILS

By CINDA CHAVICH

(Calgary, Alberta) - The city skyline has barely disappeared from my rear view mirror as I turn off Highway 22X to Mac Makenny’s historic Homeplace Ranch.
The road winds down through glades of trembling aspen and tall spruce, past fancy homes with private lakes and million-dollar views, before we bump down the narrow lane to the ranch’s collection of weathered barn red buildings and corrals.
Like the farm families who have lived here for nearly 100 years, the Homeplace is authentic, a guest ranch where the guest is instantly immersed in real cowboy culture. It’s a slice of laid-back country life, happily existing on the fringes of our busy urban world, a mere 20-minute drive from the city’s sprawling suburbs.
This is my first stop on the Cowboy Trail in search of real Alberta ranch food, and it looks like I’ve found it.
It’s cocktail hour at the ranch and, along with a selection of local Big Rock beer, Dawn Albin is serving pemmican - that indigenous concoction of bison and wild saskatoon berries which sustained the earliest prairie First Nations – and poached bison tongue on crostini toasts.
She describes the long process of rendering the buffalo fat that binds her tart and meaty balls of dried berries and bison jerky – the authentic recipe – then proffers some ground bison an berry meat balls with a black currant glaze, a tasty adaptation better suited to modern palates. While I’m initially wary of the very recognizable slices of bison tongue, I remember why it’s long been known as a delicacy as soon as I taste it, rich and creamy as any chef’s pate.
The food here at the Homeplace is always hearty – big country breakfasts, steak and grilled salmon dinners, freshly baked breads and cinnamon buns – but Makenny has added a new package to his roster of ranch holidays, designed to showcase the food produced by his neighbors. Dubbed A Taste of Alberta, it’s a chance to indulge in meals featuring local ingredients, then visit the farms where they’re produced.
So tonight we dine on a truly indigenous menu, from platters of whisky marinated bison flank steak and chili-spiked sweet potatoes, to mixed baby greens drizzled in local black currant vinaigrette and colourful vine-ripened tomatoes stuffed with wild rice, from Canadian Rocky Mountain Ranch, Whiskey Creek Greenhouse, Pepper Heads and Kayben Farms. Then we settle into a dessert wine tasting, featuring the first vintages of mead (honey wine) from nearby Chinook Honey Company.
After some time in the saddle (horseback riding is the top priority here), it’s off down the blacktop trail to discover the source of these great Alberta flavours.
Whiskey Creek Greenhouse sits along Highway 762, surrounded by country estates and rural residential developments. A Mercedes convertible is pulling out of the driveway just as we pull in, the driver has just claimed a bag of Carmen Ditzler’s sweet tomatoes and left his money in the honor box at the self-serve counter just inside the greenhouse. “The varieties here are chosen for flavour and we have really good spring water, which makes a big difference,” says Ditzler, combing through the tall rows of fat beefsteak, cherry tomatoes, green zebra and orange romas, the fruit heavy and musky on the trellised vines. While the operation is hydroponic, the greenhouse is pesticide free and the tomatoes are ripened on the vine unlike larger hydroponic operations, she says.
“When you buy our food, you support a commitment to real food, family farms, small scale agriculture, local community and the earth we all live on,” she says. It’s a philosophy that permeates many of these small specialty farms where independent producers are striving to create tastier and healthier local food products.
Heading down the road again we pass Millarville, where The Millarville Market, the granddaddy of Calgary farm markets, offers a wide variety of fresh produce, meat, poultry and other locally-made products, from Spolumbo’s sausages to Highwood Crossing cereals and cold-pressed canola oil. Held every Saturday morning at the race track just east of Highway 22, the market is open summer through fall.
South of here, the road parallels one of the most spectacular mountain views enroute to the towns of Turner Valley and Black Diamond. In Turner Valley, stop at the Route 40 Soup Company for chef Mark Klaudt’s creative take on regional foothills fare. Try his famous hand crafted soups (also available in jars to go) and homemade crackers, wraps (including smoked trout with chili infused Chinook honey or seared bison and wild mushrooms), and dinner entrees like Alberta Wild Paella with venison sausage, pheasant and smoked perch. Or look for fresh fruit pies and home baking at Eloise’s.
Neighboring Black Diamond is also worth a stop, whether you choose to dine at the tiny Wild Horse Bistro or stop at Terra Cotta gallery. Here Yvonne Smulders sells local art, including her own line of colourful pottery, some decorated with historic Alberta cattle brands that are perfect for your next cowboy cookout. You may well run into some real cowboys at the Black Diamond Hotel, too, the place where locals gather for cold beer and live country music.
Families will want to take some extra time for a tour at Chinook Honey Co., high on a bluff overlooking Highway 7 just west of Okotoks. Not only do beekeepers Cherie and Art Andrews produce sweet clover, alfalfa and dandelion honey, they have a charming country store and a honey bee interpretive centre, complete with educational tours and a buzzing glass “observation hive” where you can see the busy worker bees arriving laden with pollen for their queen. The store stocks their own edible honey products, plus a full line of gifts, from beeswax candles and honey teas, to apitherapy - natural medicines derived from honey, bee pollen, royal jelly and the propolis resin bees make to seal their hives.
In the future, you will also be able to buy the Andrews’ mead – fermented honey wine – direct from their new on-farm meadery.
From here we head through Okotoks, a busy suburban town with an historic centre. Reserve a table at tiny Bistro Provence for chef Thierry Meret’s exceptional French bistro cuisine before heading on to Kayben Farms. Here the Kolk family produces U-pick prairie fruit – from black currants to raspberries and strawberries – alongside their flower-filled garden centre and tree nursery. Be sure to try the black currant punch base, pure black currant juice to mix with soda water for a refreshing and healthy drink.
Finally, we drive north to the Canadian Rocky Mountain Ranch, where Terry Church raises bison, elk and other game for the Canadian Rocky Mountain (CRM) group of restaurants and hotels (including Emerald Lake Lodge, Buffalo Mountain Lodge, Cilantro, Divino and The Ranche). Not only do we see elk and wobbly baby reindeer grazing behind the tall fences, it’s a chance to sample smoky bison and elk sausages and find out how Church prepared the tender bison tongue for our appetizer.
While much of the game meat they produce here is destined for the CRM chefs, there’s a retail operation, too. You can order the bison burgers, roasts and venison products on line, and have it delivered (frozen, along with recipes and cooking instructions) anywhere in the country.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, it’s time for another big meal and another western yarn .
Makenny grew up in the dude ranching world – his parents were outfitters in the 1940s in Jasper – and it’s instantly obvious that this is more than a spot for city slickers to straddle a pony for the day. Whether you’re trotting off into the foothills, helping the hands groom the family’s string of 50 happy horses, or learning to make cinnamon buns with the ranch cooks, it’s the perfect place to immerse yourself in authentic western life.
Sitting in the original 1912 ranch house, next to his mother’s sepia portrait and the fancy leather chaps and gauntlets his parents exchanged as wedding gifts, Makenny seems content to live and share the cowboy life. Stay awhile, and you’ll discover even more about Alberta’s farm families and the tasty local foods they produce around his communal table.

IF YOU GO:

RECLINE AT A RANCH:
The Homeplace Ranch is a place where horses are important and you’ll get a solid foundation in riding skills whether you’re an expert or a rank beginner. Stay in the original ranch house (in the heritage room filled with an eclectic collection of family heirlooms) or in the Makenny’s former home (he’s since built another next door) with it’s comfortable upstairs and downstairs suites. Four-day packages start at $747 or book the Taste of Alberta week (Sept. 29-Oct. 6; $1,288 pp). www.homeplaceranch.com, 403-931-3245

If you’re traveling with your own horse, consider the Hilltop Ranch B&B (403-931-2639) where Gary and Barbara Zorn have three guest rooms and a Horse Motel with eight new box stalls.

THE ROUTE: Travel Alberta has dubbed Highway 22 The Cowboy Trail and the most scenic way to access it from Calgary is via Cochrane and Bragg Creek, both cool places to stop for breakfast, coffee, art and antique shopping.
To find the Homeplace Ranch, head south from Bragg Creek on Highway 762 then turn east on 22X and look for signs on the south side of the road (you can also head south out of town and west on 22X past Priddis to reach the ranch).
You’ll findWhiskey Creek Greenhouse, (www.whiskeycreekgreenhouse.net. 403-931-4891) further south on 762. Stop in for their selection of tasty vine-ripened tomatoes, live lettuces and herbs. There’s a scale to weigh your purchase and an honor box just inside the front doors of the greenhouse building.
From there, drive south and head east on Highway 549 toward Millarville. If it’s Saturday morning, take a detour into the Millarville Farmer’s Market for an amazing array of locally-produced foods and crafts.
Or, at the corner of Highway 22, turn south passing through Turner Valley for lunch at Route 40 Soup Co. (www.route40sc.ca, 403-933-7676) and on to neighboring Black Diamond. After a pit stop and a snoop through the galleries and antique stores, take Highway 7 east toward Okotoks, where you’ll see the sign for Chinook Honey Co. about 3 km past the “Big Rock”, namesake of our famous local brewery (www.chinookhoney.com, 403-995-0830).
Kayben Farms is on the northeast side of Okotoks, take 32nd St. E until you see the sign (Kayben Farms, www.kayben.com, 403-938-2857).
From here, you can take the back roads to Canadian Rocky Mountain Ranch, (www.rockymountaincuisine.com, 1-866-563-2242) or simply head north on Highway 2, then west on 22X (the ranch is just south on 69th Street).

The Cowboy Trail runs through the Alberta foothills for 700 km. Check it out at www.thecowboytrail.com or call 1-800-661-1678 for information on annual events like rodeos and pow wows, and participating ranch vacations, bed and breakfasts, lodges, restaurants, shops and tour operators.

(This story ran in Avenue magazine in September, 2006).

©Cinda Chavich 2007
www.tastereport.com

ENVIRONMENT: Hooked on humpbacks in Newfoundland

Tue, 4 Sep 2007 17:53:56 -0700

WHALE GEEK WATCHING

By CINDA CHAVICH

(BAY BULLS, NEWFOUNDLAND) – Bobbing for a week in the chilly Atlantic, swaddled in a heavy survival suit and waiting for a marine mammal to show itself, may seem like an odd way to spend your summer vacation.
Watching for whales is always a bit of a crap shoot. But once you’ve seen a massive pair rise to the surface, spout their fishy breath skyward and dive in unison, it’s like rolling doubles. The immediate jolt of adrenalin, coupled with the anticipation of the next lucky strike, is addictive. And when you’re in Newfoundland in mid summer, among the largest gathering of humpbacks in the world, you’re almost guaranteed to hit the jackpot.
Those of us participating in Wildland Tours’ Whale Study Week are certainly getting our regular fix of flukes, fins and other fantastic displays of whale behavior, cruising all day in an open boat with former fisherman Michael Gatherall and biologist Dave Snow. By day two, I have assumed the role of official photographer, surveying the dark sea through a 300 mm lens from the back of a six-person skiff.
“Fluke! Fluke!” cries the elderly Dutchman next to me excitedly, as the glistening black fin of a 40-foot humpback breaks the water near our small craft. I raise my camera and the motor drive clicks off five fast frames as the whale rolls her back into the wheel-like curve that signals her wide tail will soon lift elegantly out of the water.
a classic whale watching moment and the one our disparate little group of whale nuts is waiting for – water streaming from the flat ebony tail fluke like a waterfall as it clears the surface, then the entire broad tail flipping skyward to reveal the black and white patterned underside, before it slips again beneath the blue-grey waves. That’s the picture I’m after, too, for the pattern of white patches, and the scrapes and scars visible on a humpback’s tail, are its photo ID, as individual as a fingerprint.
It’s the way researchers know which whales are about and Snow, our guide on this mid-summer week of whale watching, is one of the amateur experts trying to catalogue the resident population of humpbacks, using fluke photos.
With all of the summer whale activity in these Newfoundland waters – The Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) says 3,000 to 4,000 endangered humpbacks spend the summer off the coast of Newfoundland feeding on capelin – it’s not surprising that this region also attracts a lot of devoted whale watchers.
While Snow has seen all of this – and more – before, like the other whale-loving tourists on board, he’s a self-avowed whale geek, smitten with his job and just as excited by the last tail sighting of the day as the first.
Even a side trip to the dreary DFO offices in St. John’s can put a spring in Snow’s step.
“There have only been 100 giant squid taken on earth and a third of them have been taken right here,” he explains excitedly, as we traipse through the bowels of the government building to a massive tank, where a 31-foot giant squid has been entombed in formaldehyde.
“We always wondered what sperm whales ate and this is it – they have teeth so they crush giant squid and swallow them.”
After a lesson on baleen – the long keratin fibres that let humpbacks and other baleen whales screen much smaller fish and krill from ocean waters – we head up to Cape Spear, following Snow along the blustery red cliffs to some prime shore-side whale watching spots.
“You see all of those birds circling,” he says tightening the string on his snappy canvas hat and pointing off to the horizon like an ancient mariner, “that means there’s food around so that’s a very good place for whales.”
Snow lives and breathes whales. But my tour mates – a television producer from New York, a retiree from Britain and a young woman from Montreal – admit they’re equally enamored of these big, benign creatures.
“Whales and birds seem to be a recurring theme in my travels,” muses Carol Wood, the New Yorker who has signed up with Earth Watch trips to identify orcas in the San Juans, watched whales in the Baja, and joined Snow for two-week whale study adventures in northern Newfoundland and Labrador.
Oddly, it’s often women who become repeat customers on Snow’s intensive whale weeks – drawn to the huge nurturing mammals and willing to travel the world to catch another glimpse.
“When I first came to Newfoundland in 1994, I came to Trinity – that was my first whale,” says Marion Willaston, a British birder who has traveled to New Zealand, the Baja and even Antarctica to see whales.
“There’s something about it – it gets under your skin,” she adds as we zip up our heavy ocean survival suits and head back out on the water to continue our vigil.
What is it about whale watching that is so addictive? Perhaps it’s the mystery of their massive presence beneath the dark water and the thrill of anticipation – for you may sit for hours with nary a spout, then see shiny hump and fins breaking the surface all around, only to have them disappear again on a whim, leaving nothing but a frothy wake. So powerful, yet so curious and tolerant, these intelligent mammals offer us land-locked humans a glimpse into the unexplored depths where they are the reigning species.
Debbie Young can attest to the mysterious tug of the whale. A holiday in 1988 turned into a full-blown obsession for the Illinois woman who works in the computer department of an insurance company and now comes to Bay Bulls each summer to photograph whales for fun.
“I’m a whale-a-holic, an amateur scientist, I guess you’d say,” says Young who spends her days up in the “crow’s nest” – the perch high above the deck of the O’Brien’s big whale watching tour boat – snapping tale flukes.
“It started as a summer hobby a couple of years ago, now we have 174 whales listed and photographed,” says Young, flipping open her photo album, filled with colour shots of dozens of whale tails.
“Up here we have the biggest summer gathering of humpbacks in the world and they’re the least studied,” adds the volunteer who, like Snow, submits her sightings to the Atlantic Whales research website, an online catalogue of 1,800 individual humpbacks and other whales, developed to aid whale researchers and students.
“We get some good science out of these trips we do,” says Snow, who co-ordinates the Newfoundland and Labrador portion of the global census of humpbacks, and is also helping to identify pods of Atlantic orcas in the region.
Former commercial fishing families, like the O’Briens and Gatheralls, have turned their years of experience in these coastal waters into successful bird and whale watching businesses. Commercial whaling ended in Canada in 1972 and in towns like Dildo, where Gerald Smith is now a whale tour guide and local historian, watching has replaced harpooning.
“I whaled for 40 years,” says Smith, who also runs a small whale museum filled with black and white photos showing how whale meat was cut by hand in the late 1960s at the South Dildo Whale Plant. The ongoing moratorium on commercial whaling has helped this marine mammal edge back from the brink of extinction, but the humpback whale remains an endangered species.
“I do believe there’s more money in shooting them with cameras, than shooting them,” says Smith. “I don’t think whales are increasing enough to open up the hunt again.”
Back in Bay Bulls, Loyola O’Brien is tucking into a hamburger at the tour company’s shoreside restaurant, where his extended family once headed out for cod.
“This is how things are after changin’,” says O’Brien, “we ate fish every day, and now we have to substitute with chicken and pork and beef.”
“We were the first people to get out of the fishin’ here,” he continues, “but we didn’t know the whales were an attraction.
“For us guys they were a nuisance – they could drag off your nets and gear into deep water and you’d never see it again.”
And now these former fishermen and whalers are conservationists. Saving the whales is Snow’s ongoing mission, too.
“The population biologists say they don’t see any discernable drop in numbers here but you just have to look total numbers – they’re a fraction of what they were,” he says. “The Atlantic grey whale is extinct, the bowhead whale is only found in the high Arctic and the blue whale is in hard shape.”
“We have a small network of whale enthusiasts who keep track of the whales but it’s not enough. We are starting a campaign for marine parks around Newfoundland and Labrador, because there’s no place in the North Atlantic where whales and fish can live in peace.”
The world’s whales were hunted nearly to extinction by 1947, when the International Whaling Commission (IWC) was formed to control the hunt. While total whale numbers rebounded somewhat, by 1986 the IWC had placed a moratorium on open sea commercial whaling. Killing any of the world’s remaining whales for profit is controversial at best, but countries like Japan and Norway continue to hunt whales, using a loophole in the IWC rules allowing “research kills”, and provoking confrontations with environmental groups battling to protect them. According to a recent article in National Geographic magazine, a single fin whale can bring $1.5 million in Japan and the meat is a delicacy that often regularly up in top Tokyo restaurants.
Ironically, it was actually bird watching that fishermen like Michael Gatherall thought would attract tourists to their depleted cod fishing grounds, less than an hour’s drive south of St. John’s. Here the Witless Bay Ecological Reserve – three islands accessible only to scientific researchers – is home to more than 50 species of birds, the largest concentration of sea birds on the planet and the biggest puffin colony in North America.
While most whale-watching tours still routinely include a pass alongside Gull Island’s steep cliffs, where thousands of cute, parrot-like puffins perch in the grass, and murres, guillemots and kittiwakes raise their chicks on rocky ledges, it’s the whales that draw crowds.
Gatherall noses his six-passenger speed boat along the cliffs dripping with white guano, while thousands of screeching seabirds darken the skies like a Hitchcock movie. But soon we’re off to the open sea again in search of humpbacks, minkes and porpoises.
This is my first serious whale watching trip and it’s the perfect place to get hooked on whales – for not only are humpbacks plentiful here, they’re known for their entertaining, if unexplained, acrobatics. After several hours scanning the sea, watching their scarred, slate-grey backs, bulging blow holes and small dorsal fins break the surface and disappear, our mother and calf pair begin to roll and play, lifting their pure white flippers and forked tails skyward, and slapping the waves with great splashing sounds.
It’s quite the display, but after a full day at sea, scanning the bobbing horizon through a zoom lens, I’m frankly turning a little green. I take several dozen shots, then stow my gear and close my eyes, just as a curious humpback begins to “spy hop” out of the water, peering above the surface to watch the watchers.
I retrieve my camera and as I lift it, she lunges from the sea in a dramatic breach, her entire body clearing the water and landing with a mighty and truly amazing crash directly beyond our open boat.
At that moment, I am snagged, hooked and reeled in – a new whale geek is born. Months later I am still telling the tale, another whale obsessed woman planning her next encounter with these mysterious 40-tonne leviathans, and thinking daily about saving the seas

IF YOU GO:
Whale watching is the fastest growing wildlife-based viewing industry in the world, growing to an estimated $1.5 billion (US) business by 2000. While some experts argue that any human presence in whale habitat is stressful to the animals, others say raising awareness of these endangered species and their ocean environment is a net benefit to whales, increasing public support for the continued ban of commercial whaling. Whale watching operators follow a code of conduct to avoid disruption of whales and report those who don’t.
It’s not a question of if you’ll see whales in Newfoundland. It’s when – and how many, and what kind. The largest gathering of humpbacks in the world is found here from June through September – the region is also known as “The Minke Way.” Maybe that’s why it’s so easy to get hooked.

Wildland Tours Whale Study Week is a great way to join a small group of whale lovers for actual whale research. There are four week-long tours in July, plus a two-week tour off northern Newfoundland in September. Prices start at $2,500 pp. www.wildlands.com

Gatherall’s Puffin and Whale Watch Tours, Bay Bulls, Nfld. Daily 90-minute tours for groups in a high speed catamaran or smaller craft. www.newfoundland-whales.com

O’Brien’s Whale and Bird Tours, Bay Bulls, Nfld.
Whale watching tours, birding tours, kayak adventures, dinner theatre, and zodiac tours – with a good restaurant for traditional local dishes like cod tongues and bake apple desserts. www.obriensboattours.com

(This story originally appeared in the Globe and Mail newspaper)

©Cinda Chavich 2007
www.tastereport.com

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FOOD TOURISM: Vancouver Island’S Cowichan Valley

Tue, 4 Sep 2007 17:47:15 -0700

EXPLORING THE ISLAND’S BACK ROADS BOUNTY

By CINDA CHAVICH

(Duncan, B.C.) - These days it’s common to talk about “the food community” – that gang of hedonists almost anywhere devoted to the pursuit of fine food and wine.
But when it comes to real communities in Canada, where the ruling obsession is quality, artisan food, there aren’t many that come close to the Cowichan Valley, a strip of seriously productive rural B.C. farmland, just “up island” from Victoria.
It’s easy to miss the hidden network of small Cowichan farms as you wind along the forested Trans-Canada highway, climbing “The Malahat”, between the capital and the town of Duncan. But veer off onto the winding country back roads on either side of the highway, and you’ll enter the island’s market garden, a hidden gem of a place dotted with the kind of family dairies, boutique wineries, pastured poultry and organic vegetable farms that are making this corner of Vancouver Island a real destination for food lovers.
Like any food-obsessed community anywhere in the world, the real heart of the place is the village bakery, where Jonathan Knight has set about to reinvent bread baking, from the ground up, in the tiny town of Cowichan Bay.
“I want to preserve the flavours and integrity of the true grain and the craft of baking,” he says, brushing the flour from his hands that he’s just ground in his own mill. At True Grain Bread, Knight grinds only organic Red Fife wheat, a rare heirloom variety that he ships direct from a farmer in Saskatchewan. Red Fife nearly disappeared, but is making a comeback thanks to devoted farmers and bakers like this.
“This is bread in its purest form – grain, sea salt, water and leavening,” says the passionate young baker, adding “a very long rise, a natural starter and proper fermentation brings out the complex flavours of the grains.”
Bread lovers from the city and countryside line up daily for Knight’s chewy handmade pretzels, flaky scones studded with dark chocolate, and crusty, hand-formed loaves, products that are often sold out by early afternoon.
Next door is the local cheese shop – a project of artisan cheesemaker Hilary Abbott and his wife Patty. Like Knight, the Abbotts do what they do from scratch, every day, entirely by hand.
“Cheese is our life but we’re tiny – ninety per cent of what we make, we sell ourselves, right here,” says Patty of their unique local cheeses, cradling one of the 10 wheels of creamy Buffalo Blue that her husband created from the milk of Canada’s only herd of water buffalo, raised on a nearby farm. “The St. Denis, we only make in the spring, and the Red Dawn is aged in cider from Merridale down the road.”
Cowichan Bay is the valley’s “foodie central”, and it’s here that I bump into James Barber. Canada’s iconic television food personality is truly living his eponymous Urban Peasant lifestyle in the Cowichan Valley, a place he’s dubbed “Canada’s Provence”. Barber’s syndicated cooking show wisdom is still beamed to television sets and iPods around the world, and he’s happy to share it, with the right people, in a private cooking class on his own farm.
“I would do it for six people I like – but I won’t do it for people I don’t like,” says the refreshingly opinionated octogenarian, whose website www.theurbanhub.com catalogues his ongoing culinary projects. “We all cook, and we have a bloody good dinner, and we learn something.”
“Eighty per cent of what we eat here is local,” he adds, listing the wild foods, from nettles and vetch to sorrel, miner’s lettuce and mushrooms that complement the local chicken, pork, lamb, beef and organically-grown vegetables in his pantry.
My tour of this bucolic bit of countryside progresses to tiny boutique wineries, apple orchards, and farms where you need to dodge the free-ranging chickens in the yard and will likely not find a farmer, but rather an honor box, next to the piles of fresh greens and eggs for sale in the garden shed.
I’m reminded of forays along the back roads of Sonoma County, where winding routes intersect at small wineries or farm gates. This valley is like Sonoma’s was 25 years ago.
There are several wineries on the island, but most are small, born of the “garagiste” winemaking tradition. Arriving at Blue Grouse or Glenterra vineyards – both making excellent white wines like Pinot Gris and perfecting the island Pinot Noir – you may meet the owner coming out of the vineyard, pruning shears in hand, to see who has arrived.
“I don’t do associations, and I don’t do systems,” says Glenterra proprietor John Kelly, when asked why his stellar Pinot Noir and Vivace, an eclectic white field blend, don’t bear the Canadian VQA seal.
He may do lunch, though. Glenterra’s new Thistles Café offers eclectic cuisine created by Kelly’s wife Ruth Luxton and served in their stylish little vineyard-side eatery.
Or you might have an elegant meal of duck breast on barley risotto in the airy dining room at Cherry Point Vineyards, the only fully First Nations-owned and operated vineyard in Canada, then pop by the Abbott’s farm just in time to watch Hilary ladle the goat cheese into conical French molds and cut the cheddar for his squeaky fresh curds.
The homemade apple pie is only one reason to stop at Merridale Cidery. Merridale’s selection of dry hard apple ciders, made from their own heirloom cider apples, is an educational experience and you need to spend some time wandering the orchards and sipping Scrumpy in their tasting room to appreciate the nuances they draw from this traditional drink.
At my evening destination, Fairburn Farm, I meet the woman who has likely done more for the “big picture” plan for the Cowichan Valley’s food community than anyone. Tireless, feisty, frank, Mara Jernigan has championed the Slow Food movement on the island, and she has some unwavering opinions about the war consumers should be waging against our modern industrial food complex, to preserve the kind of artisan food her friends here struggle to produce.
A chef and food advocate, Jernigan runs the historic farm as a culinary retreat and guesthouse, where visitors can learn to cook with local ingredients at one of her market-to-table classes, dig in for a week of foodie boot camp, or simply indulge in one of her multi-course weekend dinners or Sunday lunches on the farmhouse verandah.
An added treat is a chance to see the resident herd of water buffalo, their milk now being made into fresh buffalo mozzarella cheese at the island’s Natural Pastures cheese company and served with Jernigan’s simple flair – fried until crisp and perched atop fresh greens, or tucked into a breakfast frittata of just-gathered farm eggs.
Sitting around her table, with dinner guests like local poultry farmers Lyle and Fiona Young, there is a chance to learn about organic and artisan food production from those who are in the trenches, battling government regulations that seem to favour the largest food producers and processors, even as consumers clamor for fresh, local food.
Like the tight Cowichan community, farm, food, environmental and economic issues are all interconnected, says Jernigan. Everyone feeds everyone else.
“I often say, if we marked the money you would just see it go around and around,” she chuckles, as she chops the vegetables she collected a few hours earlier from a nearby grower, sets out a tray of fresh bread and local charcuterie, and prepares the Cowichan Bay Farm duck the Youngs have supplied for our meal.
The Cowichan food community has also expanded to include the many local chefs who have championed valley ingredients. Victoria’s Island Chef’s Collaborative meets regularly with farmers to forge supply connections, and you will find the results on menus at restaurants like Brasserie L’Ecole, Café Brio, Choux-Choux and Spinnaker’s in Victoria, or upscale resorts like The Aerie and Sooke Harbour House.
But like all food regions of the world, the most memorable meals for the traveler are always the most intimate – those chances to dine in someone’s home or learn just how a local dish is made. On one spring Saturday, that kind of gathering unfolds at Deerholme Farm near Duncan, where chef and cookbook author Bill Jones is hosting one of his monthly specialty dinners, this one revolving around morel mushrooms and other wild foods.
Hilary Abbott is here, as is Barber, along with a couple dozen locals and urbanites, out for a weekend getaway. While Jones cooks, and talks about the local bounty, diners sip island wines and feast on a morel-studded prawn bisque dolloped with seaweed-infused cream, a rustic rabbit and mushroom terrine with an oxeye daisy sauce, savory bread pudding layered with nettles and smoked salmon, and loin of venison, glazed with fir-infused honey and served rare over wild rice pancakes.
It’s a microcosm of the valley itself, small, compact and friendly. Perhaps it is the island’s physical confines that have corralled so much culinary energy into one small space. But the result has been a happy cross-pollination of food politics and culture, a veritable stew of passion where farmers and foodies, chefs, butchers and bakers truly share the same vision, and often the same table.
There are pockets of this kind of culinary passion in other places – in some isolated corner of rural Italy, or among the truffle and duck-obsessed villages of southern France. But real food communities are rare in this country. The Cowichan Valley is an authentic example.

IF YOU GO:
It only takes a day or two to complete the Cowichan Valley circuit – but it’s a day of intense culinary discovery as varied and delicious as any international food tour.
The back roads of the Cowichan Valley form a bit of a twisted maze on both sides of the Trans Canada highway, between Mill Bay and Duncan, so you’ll need to have a good map (like the Taste the Wine Islands touring map, www.wineislands.ca) if you plan to do your own exploring.
The fastest way to see the most stuff is to take a tour – Kathy McAree runs Travel with Taste Tours and she will take you into all the nooks and crannies of the Cowichan, to meet all of the interesting characters, and impart a lot of insider information herself (www.travelwithtaste.com)
For the hands-on cooking experience, join Mara Jernigan at Fairburn Farm for a Saturday cooking class throughout the summer. Meet her at the train station in Duncan on Saturday morning, and she’ll take you on a tour of the local farmer’s market, then back to her farm to create a local feast. (www.fairburnfarm.bc.ca)
Or plan your visit around one of chef Bill Jones’ farm dinners. Whether it’s local asparagus, working over a duck, or an Italian harvest celebration, a dinner in Jones’ cosy restored farm house may be the best place to rub shoulders with the locals while you learn about the farm-fresh food of the Cowichan ($85 pp, www.magnorth.bc.ca).

(This story first appeared in the Globe and Mail newspaper)

©Cinda Chavich 2007
www.tastereport.com

WINE TOURISM: Exploring Italy’s Veneto region

Mon, 2 Jul 2007 17:48:31 -0700

A DRIVING TOUR FROM VENICE

By CINDA CHAVICH

(Venice, Italy) - Venice is an iconic destination by any measure – the gondoliers gliding by along the Canal Grande, the pigeons and pedestrians competing for space in Piazza San Marco, the treasures of its impressive Basilica and narrow back streets to explore.
But when you’ve had enough of the city’s glitz and glamour, do what Venetians have done for centuries and head out to explore the provincial towns of the Veneto, the historic kingdom of the former Republic. From Treviso to Verona, it’s also Italy’s third largest wine producing region, and you can taste your way through some of the finest bubbly Prosecco, fiery grappa, delicate Soave whites and intense Amarone reds in the land.

LEG ONE: (Venice to Conegliano - 68 km)
Head north from Venice along highways A27, through the bustling provincial capital of Treviso, with its 16th-century town centre, canals and Gothic churches.
Continue north on the A27 to Conegliano, the medieval town which is at the heart of the Prosecco wine region, famed for it’s champagne-style bubbly wines, and a short 40-minute drive from Venice. It doesn’t take long to realize you’re in wine country – as you head north toward the Dolomites, the sea-level flatlands are quickly replaced by gently rolling hills covered with row upon row of vines.
Conegliano makes a good base for exploring the Prosecco Wine Route. Head into the old centre of town and to Via XX Settembre or Contrada Grande, the main route through the city’s old fortifications, and a street lined with 500-year-old frescoed buildings. Explore the town on foot, ducking into the Duomo (cathedral) to admire the still vibrant Madonna and Child altar piece painted in the 1400s by local native Giovani Battista Cima, famed for his artistic “snap shots” of this pretty region. Climb the narrow cobblestone streets and worn mossy steps, past more frescoes revealed behind the crumbling plaster of almost every façade, to the 11th-century castle that dominates the highest point in town. Here you can gaze over the landscape, scanning the plains to the south to Venice and the rolling hills of vines to the north and east, from Feletto all the way to Valdobbiadene, where the finest Prosecco wines are made using the local Prosecco grape.
The 45-km Prosecco Wine Route follows the ridges through San Pietro di Feletto and Refrontolo, with its romantic waterfall and 16th-century mill. The scenic road winds through many small towns and villages, famous for making wines for wealthy Venetians for centuries. The route roughly parallels the Piave River, a landscape of conical hills and valleys carved by an ancient glacier which left moraines and alluvial terraces in its path, soils now criss-crossed with small farms and their patchwork of individual vineyards. It’s also an area which was bombed to near oblivion during the last world war, and beneath some grassy slopes, the scars of trenches and ruined buildings are still visible.
Detour north to Follina to see the 12th-century Santa Maria Abbey, where monks once lived and worked within the ancient walls, and wander inside the peaceful courtyard with its unique collection of carved stone pillars.
Valdobbiadene is your destination, home to some of the most distinguished Proscecco houses in the region. The small highway twists and climbs through the charming villages of Santo Stefano and Saccol enroute, past dizzyingly steep vineyards, each row of grape vines with its own terrace.This is where the very best Italian bubbly is made - Prosecco Superiore di Cartizze - and in September you can take in the National Exhibition of Sparkling Wine or visit in spring for other festivals that celebrate the local drink. Ask the prosecco consorzio (www.prosecco.it) about arranging wine tastings at top properties like Bisol, Bortolomiol, Carpene Malvotti, Bortolotti, Ca Vittoria and Nino Franco wineries.
This is the foothills region of the Dolomite Mountains, so you can find trails to hike in the chestnut and fir forests, and typical mountain cheeses like Montasio and big sopressa salami to sample from small butcher shops like Salumifiocio Damuzzo in Col San Martino, a small town along the wine route. This province is also known for both rice and radicchio (red chicory) so look for a delicious local dish that combines both, risotto al radicchio. Or stop in at the Latteria di Conegliano (0438 60777) where the region’s delicate and soft Casatella Trevigiana cheese is made fresh every morning, and you can sample Imbriago, the local sharp cheese aged in grape skins. There are small cafes and wine bars facing almost every town square, so never resist the impulse to stop, sit and sip.

Good sleeps:
Canon d’Oro Hotel, along the historic via XX Settembre in Conegliano, in one of the town’s most beautiful frescoed buildings (0438 34 249)
Hotel Villa Abbazia, a lovely Relais & Chateaux property in Follina, with an elegant restaurant and tea room (www.hotelabbazia.it)

Good eats:
Wine by the glass at Al Milani Enoteca con Cucini in Follina (0438 971 412)
The finest local dining at Ristorante La Corte in Follina, featuring creative versions of traditional dishes (0438 971 277)
Ristorante Da Gigetto in Miane for local specialties (0438 960 020)
www.commune.conegliano.tv.it

LEG TWO: (Conegliano to Soave - 140 km)
From the idyllic little vineyards of Prosecco, head south to another famed Italian white wine region, Soave. It’s a two-hour drive, south on highway A27, then west along the busy A4 toward Verona. But if you resist the lure of the big city and stay in small Soave, just 30 km west of Verona, you’ll be rewarded with another spectacular medieval town and bucolic rural region to explore.
Soave – both a town and a wine region - was the first area in Italy to create an “enoturista” or wine route for touring, aimed at linking wineries, historical sights and good spots to stop for food and lodging (www.stradadelvinosoave.com). This is the place where the indigenous Garganega grape is used to make the typical dry white Soave wines, but there are also sweet Recioto di Soave dessert wines (made with grapes dried for several months in cool attic rooms before pressing) that are a must to try.
It is the ancient castle and walled city of Soave that is instantly impressive when you arrive here – the 10th century fortress it set high on a hill and is in view wherever you are in the region and makes the perfect backdrop to the Medieval White Wine Festival held each spring. A tour of the historic castle – with its 12th century frescoes from the della Scala dynasty, bits of ancient armour and weapons, and spooky tower where prisoners were dropped to their death – is a must, if only for the views from the battlements. Many battles were fought here and stepping over the drawbridge brings to mind the knights in movies like Robin Hood or Monty Python’s Holy Grail.
You can begin visiting Soave wineries for tastings right inside the ancient town walls. Start at the wine route office and they will help plot your tour, from the local Cantina di Soave co-operative, with its tasting bar and large wine shop, to the premium producers like Coffele and Pieropan on the main street, or just sit in a local café and taste. Along the wine route, you can visit family-owned wineries like Ca Rugate, Gini, La Cappucina, Filippi, Suavia and Montetondo, some which also offer bed and breakfast style accommodation.
The wine route is 50 km long, winding up through hillside vineyards, past parish churches and castles, and through 13 tiny municipalities.
The road heads east from Soave to Monteforte d’Alpone, where you can see the 15th-century Santa Maria Maggiore parish church and archbishop’s palace, and the 8th-century Romanesque Abbey of San Pietro in San Bonifacio. From here, you can follow a number of northerly routes through the steepest, and best, vineyards of the Soave region, through towns like Brognoliogo and Fitta to the high point at Castelcerino, where you have panoramic views of vineyards and valleys. The steep hills rise between the Alpone and Tramigna rivers, and there are many places along the way where you will want to pull over and gaze out over the valleys of vineyards to the plains of Verona, the old city walls of Soave and the castle a hazy reminder of your destination in the distance.
From here, turn south down steep, winding roads down to Costeggiola, then follow the valley north. Head west, switching back over another pass to reach Illasi, with its impressive Perez Pompei-Sangramoso Villa, once the seat of government but now the elegant Le Cadrare restaraurant, set in a forested park that looks down over valleys of vines, cherry and chestnut trees.
From here you can make your way back to Soave heading straight south through Caldiero, or branch off through Colognola ai Colli, a lovely town, perched high on a hill, with the ruins of Villa Spinola and a pretty park.
The wine route encompasses a mesh of interlacing roads that invite leisurely exploration. You might even want to abandon your car in favour of a bike or a pair of hiking boots to explore this compact, but hilly region. It’s the course for the Montefortiana marathon – one of Italy’s most famed runs and a sister to the New York marathon – and there are three marked cycling routes through this classic winegrowing valleys.
While you’re in the region, enjoy the local cuisine,based on ingredients like the famed Vialone Nano rice for risotto, olive oil, chestnuts and the Cazzano black cherries, often found preserved with sugar in the local grappa. Dishes like risotto i bisi (with peas), fresh tagliatelle pasta with tomatoes and peas, snails and black truffles, and rustic cherry tarts are all part of the culinary mix.

Good Sleeps:
Hotel Roxy Plaza in Soave (0456 190 660)
Filippi Agriturismo, at the historic winery near Castelcerino in rural Soave (0457 675 005)
Hotel Regina, an elegant property in the hills around Castelcerino (0457 675 260)

Good Eats:
Enoteca di Monteforte in Monteforte d’Alpone (0457 613 422)
La Cappuccina restaurant operated by the winery in Monteforte d’Alpone (visit the tasting room and 1400s private chapel, too). (0456 175 036, www; lacappuccina.it)
The elegant Le Lance D’Oro at Le Cedrare villa in Illasi (0456 520 719, www.lecedrare.it)
Ristorante Baba-Jaga in Montecchia di Crosara (0457 450 222, www.baba-jaga.com)

LEG THREE (Soave to Negrar and Sant’Anna d’Alfaedo via Verona – 70 km)
Valpolicella is the next significant wine region of the Veneto,the place where famous red wines like fresh classic Valpolicella and the deep, rich inky Amarones, made from grapes still laid to dry for months on bamboo racks, are found.
Heading west on the A4 out of Soave, take route 11 through the city of Verona, then continue west and north of the city towards Negrar.
Wineries are scattered throughout the countryside outside Verona, a high plain that rises up to the Lessinia mountains to the north and reaches olive and grape-studded foothills of Bardolino near Lake Garda in the west. Along the way, you’ll find the marble quarries which supplied the materials for the dozens of historic villas that dot the countryside, the summer homes of wealthy Veronese nobles in the hills. Some of these now house wineries that you should seek out for both the architecture and classical gardens, and the fine wine.
One such stop should be Bertani set in the elegant 18th-century Villa Novare in the heart of the Valpolicella region near Abrizzano, just northwest of Verona. With its frescoes and statuary, a wine museum and historic cellars, you can learn how the Amarone grapes are dried and taste some of the region’s finest vintages (0458 658 444, www.bertani.net).
In nearby Negrar, you’ll find Villa Rizzardi and The Gardens of Pojega, classical Italian-style gardens designed for Count Antonio Rizzardi in 1783. Wandering among the allees of huge cypress and aromatic plants, with statues of mythical figures and a grassy amphitheatre edged in boxwood, is an excellent counterpoint to a tasting of Guerrieri Rizzardi’s classic Valpolicella and delicious Ripasso-style wines, enhanced with flavorful, partially dried grapes.
The Valpolicella area is also known for pork sopressa, coppa, suckling pig porchetta, olive oil and sharp Monte Veronese and Cimbro cheese (aged in Amarone skins from winemaking).The ultimate place to taste and buy these artisan products is Benedetti, a stylish destination deli and cheese shop worth the pilgrimage to Sant’Anna d’Alfaedo (www.benedettilessinia.it), north of Negrar. Fill your bags with picnic food.
Continue north and you’ll soon find yourself in the mountains, the local outdoor playground with vacation hotels, hostels and family-run restaurants, and the base for sports from cycling to skiing. It’s here that the Bavarian Cimbri settled in the 1200s, bringing their traditions of cheesemaking, and where you can still see remnants of stone villages, with their slab stone roofs and herds of dairy cattle.
Look for restaurants serving local specialties like pasta with dark truffles, lardo (a spread of pork fat, rosemary and cracklings for bread), and beef braised in Amarone wine.
Return to Verona, driving south through San Pietro in Cariano and Pedemonte, stopping at the Scamperle family’s LeSalette winery and cantina in Fumane enroute. While you’ve been a world away, 90 minutes on the speedy A4 highway puts you right back in Venice.

www.tourism.verona.it

Jaunt: Venice to Verona (via Conegliano and Soave)
Distance: Approx. 300 km (including wine routes)
Fuel: 1 tank
Duration: 3-5 days
Prime Time: May through October
Tunes: Andrea Bocelli’s Romanza or Il Divo’s Ancora

©Cinda Chavich 2007
www.tastereport.com

Food Tourism: A LIGHTHOUSE picnic IN Newfoundland

Sat, 30 Jun 2007 17:33:09 -0700

BEAUTIFUL FOOD ALONG THE RUGGED COAST

By CINDA CHAVICH

(Ferryland, Newfoundland) – Anyone making their way up the rutted, single-track road to the Ferryland Head, about an hour’s drive south of St. John’s, might be forgiven for imagining they’ve conjured a mirage.
For along with the crimson tower of the historic local lighthouse - a beacon that has been guiding ships along the rugged Newfoundland coast since 1870 – they are likely to find two beautiful young women, serving equally beautiful food.
The women are Jill Curran and Sonia O’Keefe, old school friends who dreamed of restoring the decaying local landmark. Through many hours and years of hard work and sweat equity, they combined their talents to realize that dream. And today they are the co-proprietors of Lighthouse Picnics, one of the most delightful culinary experiences on Newfoundland’s east coast.
“People have hiked up here and they’re so surprised to see us,” chuckles O’Keefe, pushing a strand of wavy auburn hair out of her eyes and touring me through her tiny kitchen in the old frame house that hugs the riveted red metal light tower.
“It’s small but it has the most beautiful view of any kitchen,” she adds, pointing to Hare’s Ears island below the rocky headlands and the blue Atlantic, where humpback and minke whales play.
It’s here that the duo turn out their simple but stunning picnic lunches every summer day – food to be savoured with friends, while sprawled on a blanket, enjoying that same dramatic coastal views and breathing the bracing sea air.
“Picnics and boil-ups are very old time Newfoundland – my mother’s family had a picnic every Sunday,” says O’Keefe, emerging with a basket, laden with thick curried chicken salad sandwiches on home-baked oatmeal bread, slabs of banana layer cake, Mason jars of rosemary-scented lemonade and her own tall crab cakes, perched on a fluffy mound of locally-grown greens.

The story of the women and their quest to save the Ferryland Lighthouse is almost a fairy tale itself. O’Keefe and Curran met as teenagers, but like many bright young Newfoundlanders soon left their outport communities for university studies and careers. Curran, who majored in Newfoundland history and later in public relations, eventually moved to Ireland and Scotland to work. O’Keefe, an English major with a love of food, ended up at the prestigious Ballymaloe Cookery School in Ireland.
The women stayed in touch through all of their many moves, and when they spent a homesick Christmas together in 2000 in Scotland, the idea to restore the lighthouse in Ferryland was hatched.
“Sonia wanted to open some kind of restaurant and I wanted to return home,” says Curran. Several generations of her family – the Costello’s – had been lighthouse keepers in Ferryland until the lighthouse was automated in 1970, so her interest in the historic landmark was both professional and personal.
“The lighthouse was where my grandmother was born,” Curran adds, “so I always wanted to see it restored.”
For two years, the women lived on opposite sides of the world - O’Keefe in Iowa while her husband finished university, and Curran in New Zealand with her fiancée – but they continued to work toward their plan to offer lunches at the lighthouse.
“I gave Jill a book for Christmas that year, so that she could write down our ideas and keep track of our plans,” O’Keefe chuckles. “We talked on the phone a lot.”
By June 2003, both women had moved home to Newfoundland and in early July, they were in business.

That first summer was “a leap of faith,” says Curran.
While the trail from town to the old lighthouse has long been used by the locals in this community of 5,600, the last tenant, a local artist, moved out in 1983, and the dilapitated house sat empty for 20 years. So before taking on that restoration project, the women spent their first summer testing their business plan, hauling their picnic foods up the hill every morning and serving lunches outdoors.
“It was me and Sonia and her 8-month-old baby, with umbrellas and baskets,” says Curran.
“Would it work? We had no idea,” she adds. “We were asking people to walk up and we were asking people to sit out on the ground. It was a bit of a crazy idea.”
But the word spread and the community supported the plan, donating historic photos and artifacts, reminiscing about the lighthouse, even pitching in to work when crowds began to turn up.
“One day a woman from town was out walking and came into the lighthouse and said, ‘Jill, there are at least 50 people behind me – do you need any help?” says Curran, “and she came in and helped us do dishes.”
Their first customers were a couple from Colorado on a walk on a foggy, wet morning. When they found the women serving picnics, they stayed for lunch, then had to hike back to their car, and return, with the money to pay.
“That’s literally the way it went,” says Curran. “By the end of the summer, we’d show up and there’d be people waiting.”
That winter, the women worked alongside local men, hired by the town through a job creation program, to restore the house. Tools and materials had to be hauled up the hillside through deep snow, and construction done in bitterly cold conditions.
“It was just a matter of time before the lighthouse was completely gone and everyone knew it needed TLC fast,” says O’Keefe. Over three winters, the women worked to rebuilt the house, saving what they could and using old lighting and materials from a salvage yard.
Finally, the rotting floors were repaired and painted a brilliant historic green, the ancient beams and fireplaces revealed, a modern kitchen installed, the and the old coal shed fitted with a refrigerated display case filled with fresh salads and pots of fluffy rhubarb fool.

Set on a high bluff jutting out into the sea, the Ferryland Lighthouse is accessible only on foot. This means not only paying customers, but supplies, groceries and staff must make the 25-minute hike up to the lighthouse every day.
O’Keefe is the first to arrive every morning. She rises at 5 a.m. each day and heads up to the lighthouse to begin cooking.
“I’m making bread all day – 50 loaves a day – but I love making bread,” she says. “I bake hams and chickens in the ovens while the bread is rising, and we always have cold pasta salad and fruit salad, so I chop an enormous amount of fruit.”
It’s hard to predict how many picnickers will arrive each day, she says, but there are routinely more than 100 customers, even on a Wednesday.
At Ballymaloe, O’Keefe learned the ethos of cooking from scratch, using local, seasonal and organic ingredients. And that’s what you’ll find on her menu – native bake apples and partridge berries, freshly shucked snow crab and cold water shrimp, local honey, organic local greens, and home baked desserts.
In fact, on the day I visited, I was carrying bunches of fresh herbs and organic greens up to the lighthouse, thanks to my stop at Mike Rabinowitz’s Organic Farm earlier that morning.
“It has to be summery – picnic food – but I try to keep it local,” she says. “I get so much from Mike’s organic farm – our business wouldn’t be nearly as good if we didn’t have him.”

When you arrive at the lighthouse, you can order one of their three daily picnics (each including a sandwich or main course like crab cakes, a salad, homemade dessert and mason jar of homemade lemonade) from the counter in the old coal shed. You’re given a picnic blanket and a numbered flag (inspired by the historic lighthouse signal flags), and instructions to relax in the sun, on the grassy cliffs, outside. Your picnic is delivered in a pretty basket, complete with all of the appropriate necessities. There are even bird books and binoculars available if you’d like to do some puffin or whale watching over lunch.
“Fresh, pure ingredients, and people out there on the bank with an amazing view – it becomes a moment for people, and they seem to treasure that,” says O’Keefe. “There’s something magical about the lighthouse – people feel something there.”
While the lighthouse picnic business closes for the winter months, Curran and O’Keefe are now the official “keepers” of the Ferryland light.
They continue to renovate and improve the space, hosting cultural events, from readings by local authors like Michael Crummey to intimate concerts with musicians like folk legend Ron Hynes. They now offer guided historical walks to the lighthouse, and open for special events, from weddings and gourmet dinners to pirate parties for kids, complete with buried treasure.
Not only have the women created a culinary destination on the southeast Newfoundland shore, they’ve preserved a link to the past that might have been lost forever.
“It’s been really wonderful – people here in Ferryland are really proud to see the lighthouse open again,” adds Curran.
Surely, they’re proud of their new lighthouse keepers, too.

www.lighthousepicnics.ca

(A version of this story originally appeared in Chatelaine magazine)

©Cinda Chavich 2007
www.tastereport.com

Interested in publishing the stories, recipes or photos you see on this site? Email me to discuss how to get exclusive regional or syndication rights in your newspaper, magazine or online publication.

Food Tourism: Quebec’s garden island

Mon, 4 Jun 2007 17:49:43 -0700

A DELICIOUS COUNTRY DRIVE

By CINDA CHAVICH

(Ile d’Orleans, Quebec) - We had our guidebooks and instructions – tips scribbled on napkins by tour guides, ideas pulled from the binders of concierge desks, even some real insider information, scrawled on an order pad by the affable maitre ’d of the Chateau Frontenac, still sticky from the strawberries he’d flambéed for our dessert the night before.
But what happened on our little culinary tour of the Ile d’Orleans on one spring Saturday, far exceeded the sum of those well-meaning suggestions – for the gems of the day were those people we met, not by planning, but by pure luck.
The island is only 15 minutes from Quebec City – just upstream in the St. Lawrence River - but it’s really a world away, a quiet bucolic place where rural life passes relatively slowly. The region’s major monuments - the waterfalls and canyons and Basilicas – are still visible across the water, but this is a less-traveled tour route.
We’ve come to the island to experience local food, from the ground up, and our to-do list includes cheese makers, wineries, maple sugar shacks or cabane au sucre, bakeries and rural restaurants.
The late May morning is grey when we leave the city and head across the Island Bridge. Our first stop, the local information booth, is closed, as is our next recommended spot, a popular sugar shack.
This is not looking good. The culinary tour was my idea so I’m worried that my two friends will lose interest if we don’t meet success soon.
But before long, the road leads us to Domaine Steinbach, a farm specializing in organic apple cider, iced cider and duck pates. It’s barely 9 a.m. when we pull into the yard, and while they’re not actually open yet, and the owner is busy dealing with a small crisis (the farm’s malfunctioning water supply), they quickly unlock the shop, turn on the lights and warmly invite us into their tasting room.
Things are looking up. The sun has barely made its morning appearance and already we’re sipping iced cider, Quebec’s answer to ice wine. This is a local treat – pressed from frozen cider apples and fermented into the kind of sweet aperitif that perfectly compliments the rich pates which are also offered here. Soon we are sampling more of the farm’s specialties, robust apple cider and black currant vinegars, duck confit and fruit chutney. I am struck by the natural affinities of the terroir – how the creamy duck pate, subtly flavored with local black currants and cloves, is heightened by a dab of their sweet onion and maple conserve – and soon I am filling my bags with gourmet goodies from the gift shop.
Ile D’Orleans sits close to the north shore of the St. Lawrence River and the narrow highway that hugs its perimeter is dotted with small farms and villages. There are apple orchards and towering stands of old sugar maples, pretty stone churches, and flocks of sheep and geese in the fields. It is as if we’ve been transported to the rural version of the Old Quebec we’ve experienced in the historic capital city, the Nouvelle-France which flourished here after Samuel de Champlain arrived in 1608. By 1685 there were 1,205 settlers on the island – most from the Normandy region of France – and today it is populated with 7,000 of their descendants.
The farmers of this fertile island have literally been growing food here for centuries, and today the best Quebec City chefs include artisan products from island farms in their cuisine – whether it’s artisan cheese, organic vegetables or local wine.
As the road dips and winds toward the historic parish of Sainte-Famille (founded in 1661), we are overwhelmed by the views. The morning sun is hitting the steeples of spectacular Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupre Basilica across the river, and we pull off the road into an apple orchard to take a picture. Almost immediately, we see a man coming through the trees on a tractor, but before we can apologize for our spontaneous trespass, he is waving us to his house.
“The view is much better from my yard,” he says, directing us further down the road where we can see the white granite cathedral gleaming beyond a sea of apple blossoms.
Friendly Pierre Sampson offers another local specialty – a tractor ride – and soon we are bumping along through the orchards and scribbling down directions to his neighbor Joseph Paquet’s fish store and smokehouse.
Here, the island’s last commercial fisherman and his young grandson are manning the shop, a tiny red and white building by the roadside proclaiming “Poissonnerie.” While we speak halting French at best, and Monsieur Paquet’s English is limited, with the help of our tiny translator and some crude drawings, we struggle through a hilarious game of charades, enough to learn about the local fish we are sampling. When Paquet passes me a transluscent sliver of eel, sliced from a meter-long fillet that has been cured with maple syrup and smoked in his smokehouse, it is a culinary revelation, as is the ethereal sturgeon mousse, shot with ground nuts and creamy cheese.
And so our day proceeds with bits and bites, sips and sights, as we loop around the island following the historic Chemin Royal route.
Up the road we pass La Ferme d’Oc where ducks and geese are fattened for foie gras, and Les Fromages de l’Isle d’Orleans, creating traditional island cheeses, just as North America’s first commercial cheesemakers did here more than 350 years ago, and frying them into warm cheese galettes, another unique island specialty.
When we happen upon Nicole Gosselin at Erabliere Richard Boily, she happily tours us through the family’s sugar bush of 6,000 trees, explaining how the sweet maple sap begins to run in March when the daytime temperatures rise above freezing. Quebec producers supply 80 per cent of the world’s maple syrup, she says, and many of the tall trees here have been producing the sweet specialty for generations.
“It is hard work but every spring it is our passion,” she says, describing slogging through the bush on snowshoes, then boiling 50 liters of sap down to make each litre of syrup. I leave with a big can of her top grade and a bag of maple sugar to sprinkle on my toast back at home.
We see passion for creating good food everywhere on this island. From the chewy artisan loaves of La Boulange in Saint-Jean to the luxe ice cream at Chocolaterie de l’Isle d’Orleans, or a plate of roadside poutine (French fries and gravy topped with real squeaky fresh cheese curds), there was barely a moment on our island tour when there wasn’t a place to indulge in something special. Many of the island artisans don’t open their shops and tasting rooms until June, so some of our suggested stops didn’t materialize, but our plate was brimming with delicious discoveries nonetheless.
It’s a lesson I might well remember for future food forays into unknown territory. Often the best way to explore is to simply go, see, talk and taste, wherever the road takes you - no reservations required.

IF YOU GO:
The Quebec region publishes information about several gourmet routes in the area featuring farms, vineyards, sugar bushes and other artisan food producers who welcome visitors (www.gourmetroute.com). You can enjoy local ingredients at many Quebec City restaurants including Le Champlain, Le Saint-Amour, Panache and Le Patriarche.

To plan a tour of l’Ile d’Orleans visit the island tourist office, just east of the bridge on Highway 368, or their website at www.iledorleans.com

TOURING AND TASTING:
Domaine Steinbach: Taste ice cider, duck pates and terrines, vinegars, preserves
2205 Chemin Royal, Saint-Pierre
418-828-0000
www.domainesteinbach.com

Poissonnerie Joseph Paquet: Taste smoked local sturgeon, eel and dore with the last remaining commercial fisherman on the island.
2705 Chemin Royal, Saint-Pierre
418-828-2670

La Ferme d’Oc: Geese and ducks are fattened here the traditional way to create the rich liver we know as foie gras and you can buy the lobes fresh or cooked into terrines, along with duck confit and other products.
4495 Chemin Royal, Sainte-Famille
418-829-2646

Les Fromages de l’Ile d’Orleans: Taste artisan cheese on the terrace of this 17th-century-inspired dairy, made according to local recipes.
4696 Chemin Royal, Sainte-Famille
418-829-2693

La Boulange: Stop at this artisan bakery across from the parish church for Louis Marchand’s perfect chewy baguette and flaky croissant.
2001 Chemin Royal, Saint-Jean
418-829-3162

Vignoble Sainte-Petronille: Taste the local grapes at this small winery just west of the island bridge.
1A, Chemin du Bout-de-l’Ile, Sainte-Petronille
418-828-9554
www.vignobleorleans.com

DINING:
Auberge Le Canard Huppe, a country inn with a notable dining room. One night stay, including gourmet breakfast and gastronomic supper, $90 pp.
2198 Chemin Royal, St-Laurent
1-800-838-2292
www.canardhuppe.com

Crepe Cochon for main dish or dessert crepes, breakfast through dinner.
3963 Chemin Royal, Sainte-Famille
418-829-3656

Have ice cream in the garden and take away their handmade chocolates at Café Resto Chocolaterie de l’Ile D’Orleans
148 Chemin du Bout-de-l’Ile
418-828-0382

(this story first appeared in Canadian Geographic Travel magazine)

©Cinda Chavich 2007
www.tastereport.com

Interested in publishing the stories, recipes or photos you see on this site? Email me to discuss how to get exclusive regional or syndication rights in your newspaper, magazine or online publication.

ADVENTURE - Riding ALBERTA’s Cowboy Trail

Mon, 21 May 2007 17:16:06 -0700

By CINDA CHAVICH

(Calgary, Alberta) - While I grew up on the Canadian prairies – that big sky country famed for it’s farming and ranching roots - I’m really more comfortable haggling in a Shanghai market or shadowing a top chef than straddling a horse.
Don’t get me wrong. I think horses are beautiful, majestic and intelligent creatures. I love to stroke their wide velvety noses and feed them carrots - from the safe side of the fence. But horses are really BIG and riding these massive beasts has never been my strong suit.
Like many tourists, I’ve had the usual nose-to-tail trail rides, on that specially selected nag that plods woefully all day then bolts like a bullet when the barn is in sight. But really learning to ride confidently is a skill that has always eluded me.
That is, until I met Mac MaKenny. Even at 70, with his Marlborough Man good looks and slow, friendly drawl, it’s hard not to be smitten by Mac, and to trust that he’s the guy to ride alongside.
At his historic Home Place Ranch just south of Calgary, each guest is paired up with one of his 40, well-loved horses for the week. But before you ever put bum to saddle, MaKenny makes sure you get some basic training, too.
“Remember – L, L, P, P,” he says, walking us through a lesson in reigning techniques, with the help of Woody, the wooden “horse” in the yard where you can practice your mounts and dismounts.
“Lift - reigns toward his ears, says pay attention,” he continues. “Look – to where you want to go. Push, then point, that’ll give you your turn. Horses move away from the touch. Don’t ask them to back up – but when you want to go forward, push with both heels.”
MaKenny, and guest ranch operators like him, pride themselves in taking city slickers like me and easing them into the life of ranching and riding with care. They don’t want you to be uncomfortable and they don’t want to endanger you, or their valuable horses. So by the time we stand before our own trusty steeds in the weathered split rail corral, we’re starting to feel confident (even if most of us need to stand on a box to reach the stirrup and hoist ourselves into the saddle).
“We’re riding western – keep the reigns in one hand and keep them even, in this tight circle,” he says calmly mounting his big horse, Leroy.
Riding tall, the group heads off into a crisp Rocky Mountain morning, and while we’re following in a tight string, this time I feel like I’m really riding.
Push and point – we make a slow right turn and head down a steep slope. Lean back in the saddle for balance, and the horse takes over, picking her way through the rocky trail. She never falters, even crossing small streams and muddy gullies, and before long, I have that feeling that we can go anywhere together.
“Stop – bring your hand straight back to the solar plexis, look down,” I hear MaKenny’s tutorial in my head as we pull our mounts into a semi-circle along a windy ridge.
That’s the payoff – a view from this high point across the foothills to a wall-to-wall vista of craggy blue-grey peaks. Down below, you can see a river slicing through the buckskin hued hills and a high summer pasture, dotted with livestock. These are the secluded spots we can only reach on horseback, wild places where cowboys and cattle roam.
While oil and gas is driving the hot Alberta economy these days, the province was built on ranching. It was the 1880s when the first itinerant American cowboys arrived here, trailing cattle north from Texas to populate the earliest ranches like The Bar U (now a national historic site), the Oxley Ranche, the Cochrane Ranche and the A-7. Those massive tracts of wild fescue have since been fenced off into much smaller farms and ranches, but the rolling grassland that hugs the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains is still prime cattle country and, as films shot here like Brokeback Mountain or Legends of the Fall so aptly illustrate, it’s still some of the most stunning scenery in the world.
Ranch life still revolves around driving herds up into those high mountain pastures, branding, calving and rounding up cattle in the fall, work that’s mainly done from the back of a well-trained horse. And many of today’s working ranches have opened their doors to allow visitors to experience that unique western lifestyle, in part to augment farm incomes and in part to preserve cowboy culture.
“Agricultural economics have never been great and this works perfectly with our cattle business,” says LeAnne Lane, who with her husband Keith, hosts dozens of international guests each year at their Willow Lane Ranch near Granum, a 1.5-hour drive south of Calgary.
Riding with Keith Lane through the remote Porcupine Hills on a warm summer afternoon feels like a scene from a movie – fields of blooming giant cow parsnips and rippling grass, stands of trembling aspen and tall spruce, with the Livingstone Range looming like a solid granite backdrop behind it all. We ride for much of the day, stopping to fish in a tiny lake, munching sandwiches and home-baked cookies from our saddle bags, and checking on the health of the herd along the way. No nose-to-tail trail riding here – the Lane’s well-trained “cow horses” are ranch workers with special skills, and we cover a lot of terrain before collapsing into the outdoor hot tub back at the ranch.
“Our goal is not to teach riding, but to preserve the western way of doing things, on horseback,” says Leanne Lane. “It’s a way of life that looks after the land, and leaves as little impact as possible.”
Every ranch and every riding experience is different, a function of the family, the farm, the landscape and the season.
A ranch vacation is like a B&B stay, but with horses at the core. It’s a chance to immerse yourself in that rare world of authentic cowboy life, and share simple but incredibly generous rural hospitality.
At some ranches, like the Willow Lane Ranch, you’re literally sleeping upstairs in the family ranch house, lured to the breakfast table by the aromas of LeAnne’s famous home cooking.
At The Homeplace Ranch, the operation is a bit bigger, but still expect to sit down with Mac and his wranglers over coffee in farmhouse, or get up to your elbows in flour and sugar with the ranch cook and learn to make her killer cinnamon buns.
What you make of your ranch vacation is up to you. Take a cool morning ride into the foothills, then relax back at the farm. Challenge yourself with an overnight adventure into the backcountry or plan a girl’s-only riding weekend, based at a comfortable mountain lodge.
Take the time to talk to the cowboys – and cowgirls – to learn how they work with their own horses and, if you’re happy to stack bales or muck out the barn just to be close to the action, pitch in with ranching chores. Or sit out on the porch and watch the setting sun turn those mountain peaks from fiery red to deep purple.
You may never give up the city life to become a real cowboy – but for a few days, you can truly feel like one.

SIDEBAR:

To learn more about ranch vacations in Alberta go to the Alberta Country Vacations Association website (albertacountryvacation.com) or Travel Alberta (www.travelalberta.com)

Homeplace Ranch - Priddis
This historic property, tucked into the foothills about 40 minutes southwest of Calgary, offers a real wrangler experience with a string of 50 horses and the crusty cowboys devoted to their care. Owner Mac MaKenny grew up in a guiding family in the Rocky Mountains near Jasper and says “horses have been part of our family for four generations.” It’s a ranch where you’ll learn to ride, appreciate and understand horses, in mountain foothills near Calgary. Starting at $1,058 pp/week.
(www.homeplaceranch.com; 1-877-931-3245)

Willow Lane Ranch - Granum
The Lane family hosts you at their family-run ranch east of the Porcupine Hills. Stay B&B style in their ranch house, or book into the more private historic log cabin on the property. Take it easy with a ranch stay including day rides and ranch chores, or sign on for a more adventurous package, like their six-day Cow Camp, a real working vacation, helping the family gather cattle in the Porcupine Hills. This is an intimate, small group experience (maximum six guests) on a working cattle ranch. Two-night weekend package starts at $490 pp. (www.willowlaneranch.com; 1-403-687-2284, 1-800-665-0284)

Holiday on Horseback - Banff
Warner Guiding & Outfitting provides the cowboys and horses for day trips or longer rides into Banff National Park with rustic wilderness camping or luxury accommodation in private back country lodges. This is a longtime Banff outfitter with a big operation (more than 300 horses) so there’s a riding experience for every taste, even an annual five-day, lodge-based ride for women only, special expert-led rides focusing on grizzly bear and wolf habitat, and adult-only adventures (3-day back country lodge rides starting at $653 pp).
(www.horseback.com; 1-800-661-8352)

Sierra West Cabins and Ranch Vacation – Lundbreck
Stay with ranchers Randy and Ginny Donahue in a restored 1905 homesteader’s cabin, or one of two other log cabins on their Lonesome Pine Ranch, and enjoy roping, gymkhana and riding lessons in their arena, trail rides and overnight pack trips, and some of the province’s best trout fishing. Their four-night Rocky Mountain ranch vacation, including ranch meals, riding and your own cabin, starts at $980 pp).
(www.sierrawest-777.com; 403-628-2431)

Brewsters Kananaskis Guest Ranch - Kananaskis
Explore your inner cowgirl with Brewsters’ Giddy Up Girlfriends package, a riding holiday for women only, based at their historic guest ranch, a 45-minute drive from Calgary, at the base of Yamnuska Mountain. It’s just one of the many riding vacation packages offered for groups by Brewsters, a fifth-generation family business which has been guiding tourists in the Rocky Mountains for more than 100 years. There’s adventure beyond horses here, too – river rafting, voyageur canoes, hiking, fishing and even a golf course on the ranch.
(www.kananaskisguestranch.com)

Bent Creek Western Vacations - Fort Macleod
Gerry and Kathy Karchuk are experts in low stress, humane horsemanship and offer a personalized riding programs, from their three-night horsemanship clinics (focusing on ranch horse, pack horse or basic horse/rider communication), to the Cowboy 101 boot camp (six nights to learn traditional ranch skills). The two-night ranch vacation package starts at $460 pp.
(www.bentcreek.ca; 1-866-553-3974)

Lucasia Ranch Vacations – Claresholm
For a vacation on a classic working ranch spend a week with Wayne and Judy Lucas at the historic Lucasia Ranch. They offer cattle drives including moving cattle into the forest reserve in the spring and rounding them up in mid-October, and a June branding experience week. Enjoy accommodation in their family ranch house or new log cabin, and home-cooked meals of ranch raised beef. Ranch weekends including accommodation, meals and riding start at $385 pp.
(www. lucasiaranch.com; 1-877-477-2624)

Lazy M Guest Ranch – Caroline
Lane and Margie Moore built a lodge on their central-Alberta cattle ranch in 1990 to augment farm income. Since then their property, right on the pretty North Raven River, has attracted guests for intensive hands-on horsemanship seminars, hoof care and fly fishing vacations. With room for 12 (and more at the big dining room table) this ranch is perfect for groups or extended families. Day rates start at $100 pp.
(www.lazymcanada.com; 1-403-722-3053)

(This story first appeared in Westworld magazine)

©Cinda Chavich 2007
www.tastereport.com

Interested in publishing the stories, recipes or photos you see on this site? Email me to discuss how to get exclusive regional or syndication rights in your newspaper, magazine or online publication.

ADVENTURE: Gourmet sea kayaking

Sun, 6 May 2007 20:41:22 -0700

Will paddle for truffles - a delicious soft adventure for the hedonistic camper

By CINDA CHAVICH

(VALDEZ ISLAND, B.C.) – Planning a great summer vacation often leads to a couple of mutually exclusive options.
Either you choose to get away from it all in the great outdoors, rising with the sun and the haunting call of the loon for a bowl of granola. Or you opt for the more urbane escape, a voyage aimed at discovering unique wines and gourmet dishes prepared by the hottest new chefs.
Rarely the twain shall meet. But last summer I found a way to satisfy both my need for nature and my hedonistic streak in one perfect seaside vacation. I feasted on the freshest food in the land – from fat chunks of locally-smoked tuna perched over a Nicoise salad of slim green beans and heirloom tomatoes for lunch, to dinners of confit of tender free-range chicken sauced in truffle butter and tiny morels, seared halibut with goat-cheese-studded polenta, and brioche French toast bathed in warm wild blackberry sauce for breakfast.
All this while moored with my kayak and a handful of like-minded adventurers, on a remote white shell beach on Valdez, one of the lesser-traveled Gulf Islands. There are no roads, no services, no cell phones here – but during our three days camping in the coastal wilderness we are never without artisan bread and cheese, fine wine or truffles.
It’s black tie dining for the fleece and neoprene set, every seat in the dining room has with a sunset view. And it’s just another day for chef James Bray and his talented sous chefs (aka kayak guides) at Blue Planet Kayaking Adventures, a Victoria-based outfitter which specializes in guiding the kind of paddling trips that would tempt even the most urbane palate.
We set out with Bray and his “awe-SOME” sidekick, French Canadian guide Alex Blais-Montpetit, for three days afloat in the warm, flat waters off the east coast of Vancouver Island. From the moment we pushed off from the shore near Nanaimo, this pair kept us amused, educated, safe and sated with some of the best food we had during our Vancouver Island vacation, with little more than a make-shift driftwood table and a couple of Coleman stoves.
They also patched up an accident-prone paddler, offered to get up at dawn to explore the glassy early morning waters before breakfast and lead yoga stretches on the beach. From their floating “cellar” came unique and rare B.C. wines – from Winchester’s Sharp Rock Chardonnay to Joie’s 2004 Noble Blend. It was like resort living in our own private paradise.
Bray, a saucy and energetic cook with a history of working in some of Victoria’s top eateries (Canoe and Brasserie L’Ecole, to name two) came to kitchens and kayaking simultaneously, working the stoves while feeding his adventurous spirit.
“All killer, no filler – all gourmet, all the time,” quips the erudite entrepreneur while plating a dozen beautiful meals of pan-seared halibut, as expertly as any chef on a big city restaurant line, and pouring a bright, island-made Alderlea pinot noir to match. “My big passion is food and wine – on Vancouver Island, I think I’m the only kayaking chef.”
“This is comfort class soft adventure.”
After spending the afternoon gliding past spectacular sandstone cliffs, paddling the smooth waters of these protected channels off the Straight of Georgia, we planted our tents at Blackberry Point, along the western shore of Valdez Island and popped the cork on a fruity Gewürztraminer while our guides prepped dinner.
The exposed earth beyond the tidal zone reveals shallow layers of broken clam shells, obviously a place where generations of First Nations families have also stopped to feast. It’s still a popular camping spot for boaters – part of the B.C. Marine Trail Association – but it’s quiet, too, with waves lapping the low banks and spectacular sunsets.
In mid-summer, the weather is picture perfect and the sheltered coves we explore by day are nearly deserted, home only to occasional cottagers and cormorants, endangered Gary oaks and twisted orange arbutus, bright sentinels against blue water and sky. Eagles nest on the tops of the tallest trees and flocks of huge vultures soar overhead, while we paddle through shallow, electric green water, along rock walls that have been buffeted by water and wind into organic sculptures, eroded into honeycombs and spires reminiscent of ancient bones.
In the sea, seals sometime bob into view but it is bigger craft – like sailing boats or tugs hauling loads of containers and semi-trailers – which require more attention when you’re riding low along the waves in a kayak. Our guides are particularly vigilant, insuring this mostly novice group sticks together while crossing busy traffic channels and stays well hydrated. There are plenty of water breaks, and almost as many to refuel.
Magically, Bray pulls a whole loin of burnished gold smoked tuna and bags of crisp local greens out of the hatch of one of the big fibreglass double kayaks, and soon the 12 members of our group are devouring substantial salads and big homemade cookies. Like the tour company, which he insists be as low impact and sustainable as possible, Bray scours the island for local products for his pantry.
“I have all of my suppliers, FAS fish, Cowichan Bay Farms, Ragley Farms in East Sooke, local wineries like Blue Grouse and Alderlea,” says Bray, rattling off a list of the kind of local purveyors who supply Victoria’s top restaurants. “I drive all around the island to get ingredients because I want this to be a sustainable business, in social and economic terms, too. I want to support all of the places I love.”
Sipping Cherry Point Blackberry Port as the moon rises over glittering, phosphorescent waves, it’s hard not to be similarly smitten.

GOING COASTAL:
Victoria-based Blue Planet Kayak Adventures (www.blueplanetkayaking.com) hosts several gourmet kayak trips from June through September, and has several other itineraries, including Orca-watching kayak tours through Johnstone Strait and more challenging kayak adventures in the big surf around Tofino, all featuring chef James Bray’s regional Vancouver Island cuisine. The three-day Gourmet Kayaking Weekend costs $699 pp, including guides, kayaks, tents, food/wine and transport from Victoria to the launch point near Nanaimo.

The Blue Planet Gourmet Kayak Trips are just one of the culinary adventures marketed through Edible B.C. (www.edible-britishcolumbia.com, 1-888-812-9660) a Vancouver-based “culinary conscierge” business, designed to help locals and visitors book tables at the best local restaurants, plan personalized culinary tours and find the city’s hidden food gems. Owner Eric Pateman – a lapsed chef with an MBA – is always cooking up new ways to promote B.C’s food scene, with culinary walking tours in Vancouver’s Chinatown and Granville Island Market, and his new Edible B.C. retail store in the market, offering a variety of local gourmet food products.

West Jet flies directly from Calgary to Comox, so you can start your coastal adventure with a stay at a comfortable bed and breakfast, like the four-star Mission Ridge B&B (250-334-9411), expertly run by former Albertans Bill Bate and Hallmuth Novoa, who are seriously good cooks and in the know about local food. Dine at Martine’s Bistro for seafood near the Comox marina, or for fresh fusion food, hit Atlas Café (250-338-9838) in downtown Courtney.

Explore local ingredients at the Comox Valley Farmers’ Market (www.comoxvalleyfarmersmarket.com), then head south along the Oceanside Route (Highway 19A) to famed Fanny Bay for your fill of freshly harvested oysters. Walk the miles of sand at Qualicum Beach, and stop for a casual lunch at Shoot the Breeze.
Then pick up picnic food at the well-stocked Qualicum Foods supermarket (the great cheese counter has local gems like Natural Pastures’ Comox Camembert and Little Qualicum Cheeseworks’ fresh cheese curds, Island Brie and nutty Rathtrevor) or head to Nanoose Edibles Organic Farm (Nanoose Bay, 250-468-2332) to see what’s fresh and in season.

Plan a post-kayak-trip stay at the incredible Tigh-Na-Mara Seaside Spa Resort near Parksville – just the place to pamper those hard-working paddling muscles and relax in your own private spa bungalow tucked into the tall trees. Don’t miss the creative and delicious spa food featured at their Treetop Tapas & Grill – ice vodka scallop ceviche, pistachio-crusted sable fish or juniper-scented pears with red wine sorbet will help to keep your gourmet holiday on a tasty track. (www.tigh-na-mara.com)

For more information, visit the Tourism B.C. (www.tourismbc.com), Tourism Vancouver Island (www.SeeTheIslands.com) or Oceanside Tourism (www.oceansidetourism.com) websites.

(this story first appeared in Avenue Magazine, spring 2007)

©Cinda Chavich
www.tastereport.com

Interested in publishing the stories, recipes or photos you see on this site? Email me to discuss how to get exclusive regional or syndication rights in your newspaper, magazine or online publication.

HOTELS - The Juniper, BANFF, ALBERTA

Fri, 4 May 2007 16:58:48 -0700

The Juniper
Banff, Alberta, Canada

mountain chic:
If a contemporary room in the Rockies is your style, try The Juniper, nestled at the base of Mount Norquay in a secluded setting. This 1955 property (the former Timberline Inn) is a longtime local haunt and has recently been refurbished – now a sleek, minimalist space with the feel of a modern boutique hotel, complete with fluffy robes, yummy bath products and a view that won’t quit. Even if you can’t stay, stop for a cocktail in the bar - the best place to see the sun set. $97-$662 www.decorehotels.com

Greece - a wild meal in the Mani

Sat, 31 Mar 2007 17:39:01 -0700

MY BIG FAT NOISY GREEK MEAL

By CINDA CHAVICH

(SAIDONA, GREECE) - It’s a fact of life that the things we love most aren’t always that good for us.
Speed, danger, decadence, passion – always makes the most memorable experiences - and it’s for all of those reasons that I will never forget one of the best meals I ever had high up in the mountains of Greece.
There were six of us in the group – Canadians who had the good fortune to be invited into a small family home for dinner. Tonight we would dine in the Mani, among descendents of those legendary Greeks patriots who fiercely fought invaders from their mountain hideaways over thousands of years of war.
It was already late when Sotiris Klampatséas arrived to ferry us to his home in Saidõna. As we wound our way higher and higher along the narrow roads that we had traveled earlier in the day, I imagined the views we might have seen if the sun hadn’t long set. This was a scenic strip of the southern Peloponnese, the bulge of mainland south of Athens shot with rocky mountain peaks and lush olive groves, steeply terraced down to the sea
Sotiris’s house was one of a small cluster of homes that hugged the cliffside. We climbed a steep stairway and self-consciously piled into the crowded living room where Vaso, Sotiris’s wife, ushered us into her modest home. A fire was burning in the hearth and the aromas of a home cooked feast hung heavily the air.
The main room was dominated by a large dining table, filled with platters of Greek appetizers or meze. Their own fruity olive oil figured in every dish – marinated olives, fat slabs of feta cheese, chunks of pickled eggplant, and purple rounds of smoky grilled octopus, heavily drizzled in golden oil.
In the kitchen Vaso, her newphew and a couple of elderly aunts were bustling around, mixing garlic and grated cucumbers into big bowls of tangy yogurt as thick and rich as soft butter, rolling thin sheets of homemade filo dough and baking big pans of their famous gigantes beans.
We craned to see what was going on in the kitchen but first we needed to partake of some hospitality. Sotiris poured a highly alcoholic concoction – tsipouro or the Greek version of grappa. Our interpreter struggled to translate the broken bits of conversation but soon we were all eating and laughing – Ricardo, the young Quebecker in our crowd, mimicking our host with hearty toasts of TSI-POUR-O! and eliciting gales of giggles from our hosts.
The ice was definitely broken by the time we all toddled into the kitchen to take our turns with the agingaunts, rolling filo and frying honey-drenched pastries in pans of golden olive oil.
This was a humble home, but one filled with the joys of sharing food and drink. Next to the hearth, sat a small wooden barrel which Sotiris used to fill carafes with his own homemade wine, a light red which was now flowing freely.
As the evening progressed, more people piled to the crowded space and the little room bulged at the seams. Sotiris’s mother, a fragile-looking widow in black, was settled into a comfortable chair to enjoy the party. A nephew sat in the corner strumming traditional songs on the bouzouki while another stood on a chair, recording the festivities on video.
When someone asked Sotiris about the tiny birds he was grilling over the open fire he tried to explain that he had bagged them himself in the nearby hills. They were snipe – we finally deduced – a small and difficult bird to hunt. Sotiris proudly served them, crisp and charred from the fire, then left the room to retrieve his shotgun to make his point crystal clear.
In these tight confines – with people, drink and every opportunity for misunderstanding – our Canadian clan cringed at the sight of the shotgun. Our interpreter explained that Greeks love to shoot – not only as hunters but to punctuate the happy mood at important occasions like this. At weddings, for instance, they often discharge their firearms into the air, creating a boisterous racket to mark the day.
When Sotiris urged the men in our group out to the balcony to fire off a few rounds, the women protested. But our young French-Canadian compatriot, was immediately on his feet and out the door. A moment later heard the gun discharge, the thunderous report shaking the tiny house and knocking Ricardo backwards through the doorway. Ron stepped up to take his turn but his wife protested loudly, and the gun was again safely stowed. But I began to understand the concept – this special night was now forever marked in our memories.
We continued our merriment and feasting – avgolemono soup, beans baked with tomatoes and fragrant dill, crisp potatoes roasted in olive oil, yellow squash fritters flavored with wild mint. In all, we counted 23 dishes.
Vaso and Sotiris joined hands and raised their arms. They sang together and danced, slowly stepping and twirling in a postage stamp of space at the centre of the room. All evening the music continued, the family danced, the wine flowed and the Canadians thought they had died and gone to Greek heaven.
When someone asked about the tradition of breaking plates (one most of us have only seen in Greek restaurants), Vaso hustled into her kitchen and grabbed a stack of plain white crockery from the cupboard. She immediately tossed a side plate onto the ceramic tile floor. It shattered loudly, amid laughter and cheering from everyone in the room, and soon there were shards china crunching underfoot everywhere, further punctuating our amazing evening of wild abandonment.
When the cell phone rang and we were admonished for being late for our coach ride home, we had to say hasty good-byes. Vaso pressed bunches of aromatic mountain tea into our hands as we crossed her threshhold into the starry night.
Today when I reach for it in my own kitchen, the sweet smell brings back our brush with decadence and danger, and what was truly a meal to remember.

©Cinda Chavich
www.tastereport.com

Interested in publishing the stories, recipes or photos you see on this site? Email me to discuss how to get exclusive regional or syndication rights in your newspaper, magazine or online publication.

TRAVEL TREND: Culinary tourism HOT SPOTS

Fri, 30 Mar 2007 17:31:24 -0700

WILL PADDLE FOR TRUFFLES: THE DELICIOUS WORLD OF CULINARY TOURISM

By CINDA CHAVICH

The lure for our latest summer holiday was two-fold – a chance to stretch the kayaking muscles among the pristine Gulf Islands, coupled with the promise of exquisite food.
While most outfitters strive to provide good food on their back country adventures, this trip was different.Our guide was Victoria chef James Bray and the focus of our camping weekend was his regional and seasonal cuisine – from confit of free-range chicken with truffle butter, and seared salmon over wilted greens with goat-cheese-laced polenta, to the selection of rare island wines he had chilling in the sea.
When Bray pulled a side of locally-smoked tuna out of the hatch of his kayak, and proceeded to balance slices of this west coast delicacy atop Nicoise-style salads of baby fingerling potatoes, slim green beans and organic eggs, the dozen food-focused paddlers in our group swooned. By the time he began plating thick slices of crisp brioche French toast and wild blackberries on the makeshift driftwood table for breakfast, even a morning of skimming the flat blue waters of around Valdes Island paled by comparison.
“All killer, no filler – all gourmet, all the time,” quipped the salty chef, creating another masterpiece for the eight tourists who followed him to this secluded beach for a weekend of culinary adventures. We may have arrived at this outdoor dining room on our own steam, but the food was the incentive. We were culinary tourists.
Despite the fact that “Canadian cuisine” is almost impossible to define, Canada was one of the first countries to recognize that culinary tourism is the next huge travel frontier. The first international culinary tourism conference in the world was held in B.C. in 2004. It will be followed this spring with the first World Culinary Travel Expo in Vancouver May 25-27. The Canadian Tourism Commission has created a committee to promote Canada’s diversity as a food destination, hauling our top chefs around the world to prove the point, and by 2025 expects to lure 7.5 million food tourists from the U.S. alone.
The latest missive on the topic – a study released in February by the Travel Industry Association of America (TIA) - confirms that at least four in 10 travelers have food on their minds when they book a trip.
“Food-based travel, including culinary and wine tours, is currently one of the biggest trends in the travel industry,” says TIA media relations manager Cathy Keefe. “Travelers have become more food savvy over the years and they’re looking to expand their experience of a destination through its wine and food offerings.”
While some of the world’s tour operators are still fixated on their “American Plan” – providing three safe squares as part of a hotel or tour package – today’s travelers want to taste more than their international hosts’ valiant attempts at burgers and fries. They want to learn more about the countries they visit and local food is perfect place to start. It’s tied intimately to local culture, and one of the easiest ways to learn about geography, economics, religion and ethnic groups.
Authentic food experiences are part of an authentic travel experience and, according to a Canadian Tourism Commission (CTC) study, dining is one of the most popular activities for tourists. Many countries, including Australia, New Zealand and South Africa have recognized the potential of culinary tourism, pumping big bucks into promoting their country’s restaurants and wineries.
With well-heeled American tourists shelling out $50,000 apiece for the chance to travel to Thailand, China, Burma and India with food critics (including private cooking lessons, market tours, and dinner with the Thai Royal Family), their efforts should pay off.
France, Italy and Spain are still the hot spots for international food tourism, but it’s not necessary to have a Michelin-starred restaurant or a cooking school in a Tuscan villa to lure food tourists. Often the most fascinating and memorable food is tasted at an outdoor market or roadside stand.
Regional cuisine – from the farm to the plate – is part of the trend, as is the renewed interest in traditional foods and agrotourism. Across Canada, food tourism organizations are growing – from “Tastes of Niagara” to the “Okanagan Cultural Corridor” and “La Route des Saveurs” in Quebec. Even states like Alabama – which themed it’s 2005 tourism promotion The Year of Alabama Food – see local specialties, from Gulf shrimp and oysters, boiled peanuts, barbecue, pecan pralines, layered Red Velvet cakes and grits, as tourist draws.
Statisticians in the tourism business like to categorize travelers based on their motivation - heritage enthusiasts, arts enthusiasts, culture enthusiasts, festival enthusiasts, culinary enthusiasts. But the food and wine motivated traveler may be one that crosses over all of these categories – the type of tourist interested in exploring cultural history and landscape, visiting a place during a local food or wine festival, and someone who likes a hands-on, experiential or learning vacation. This may range from attending the 10-day Okanagan Wine Festival, complete with winery tours, gourmet dinners and tastings, enrolling in an intensive week of cooking at the Ballymaloe Cookery School in Ireland, or taking a day trip to Taber, Alberta (Canada’s corn capital) for the annual Taber Corn Festival.
Culinary tourism might even fit the motivation of the “hard core” adventurer – think of shock chef Anthony Bourdain consuming a beating cobra heart in Vietnam or the challenge of eating prairie oysters at the annual Testicle Festival in Calgary. Historical food sleuths will want to try traditional dishes like Acadian rappie pie on Nova Scotia’s south shore, and pemmican-style Saskatoon berry and bison sausage on the prairies.
While the CTC defines “Wine and Culinary Enthusiasts” as “Canadians who have taken leisure trips in Canada and exhibit a particular interest in fine foods and wine,” that definition may be far too confining for today’s food lover. Many food travelers simply seek out authentic local flavors in remote places.
“The Taylor Café – Taylor, Texas,” barbecue enthusiast and caterer David Thurgar said when asked about the highlight of his latest culinary road trip. It was there that he encountered the best beef brisket sandwich, smoky and piled on a piece of Wonder bread – culinary nirvana for a barbecue cook.
David Couch found his nirvana at the annual American Harvest Workshop hosted by the upscale Cakebread Cellars in the Napa Valley. Not only did he eat well, the Oregon lawyer tied on an apron and worked alongside one of the country’s celebrated young chefs, creating a truly gourmet meal for 75 using fresh ingredients foraged from nearby growers.

The culinary tourism trend has spawned a number of companies devoted to food touring and promoting regional cuisine across Canada. In Vancouver, former chef Eric Pateman has launched Edible B.C., a culinary conscierge company which will customize a Vancouver restaurant tour for any visitor (including making recommendations and reservations) or hook you up with one of their own food-focused walking tours in places like Chinatown or the Granville Island Market. More ambitious food tours – like the gourmet kayak trip – or cooking classes featuring local B.C products are also an option.
On Vancouver Island, Kathy McAree’s Travel with Taste specializes in customized culinary day tours of the Cowichan Valley, Saltspring Island and the Saanich Penninsula. In Prince Edward Country – Canada’s upcoming new wine region, between Toronto and Ottawa – you can join a guided tour of local wineries with John Fricker’s Prince Edward County Wine and Culinary Tours, including a dinner package at the Waring House Inn in Picton. The inn also offers hands-on cooking classes or wine appreciation workshops.
And in St. John’s, chef Bob Arniel will serve you a gourmet dinner, after teaching you how to bread a cod tongue and make a bake apple-infused crème brulee in his cooking school kitchen, after taking you out foraging to local organic gardens.
Educational institutions – from the New York-based Culinary Institute of America to your local university – organize educational tours with a culinary focus, drawing on the 40- and 50-something tourist seeking an in-depth learning vacation. And there are tour companies around the world, specializing in culinary adventures. But you can also usually find an afternoon cooking class offered at your island beach hotel. Even a snoop through the supermarket can turn up exciting local ingredients to inspire new culinary explorations.
Wherever you travel, whether it’s to the neighboring province or another continent, local food is a huge part of the experience. So hit the perogy trail outside of Edmonton, try the wild rice and schmoo torte in Winnipeg, and tour Ile d' Orleans, Quebec’s market garden, to taste local artisan cheese, maple syrup and ice cider.
The world is truly your oyster – or cobra or cod tongue - when it comes to culinary tourism.
Tuscany? It’s been done.

NEW FOOD FRONTIERS:

ASIA
You may still get stuck in “western” restaurants – built for the bus tour crowd - in mainland China, but in Vietnam, Thailand, Korea and Japan, food tourists can choose from gourmet or authentic local food experiences.
American bon vivant and food writer Robert Carmack and his partner Morrison Polkinghorne’s Globe Trotting Gourmet is one tour company that specializes in luxury Asian food tours (www.globetrottingourmet.com). Their upcoming Ultimate Japanese Dining Experience includes 10 days of touring the markets, restaurants, shoyu and sake factories, and cooking with Japanese celebrity chef Ryuichi Yoshii. The cost for the culinary odyssey is $5,995 (US) pp, plus $1,000 surcharge for an optional dinner at one of Kyoto’s top restaurants, not including airfare and overnights enroute.
Burma and Myanmar are new tours for the Australian-based company which takes small groups into the heart of local food culture, whether you’re interested in dining in a Vietnamese cobra restaurant, or learning to cook a traditional Malay dish of nasi kerabu using shredded wild jungle herbs.
While the food experiences are authentic, and often exotic, guests get a break from the sometimes challenging reality of travel here with upscale accommodations in top hotels. Thailand and Japan are perhaps the most accessible of the Asian countries for food tours, while Vietnam and Laos will appeal to the more adventurous eater.
But there are new experiences for lovers of Thai food, too. In 2008, Khon Kaen, 450 km north of Bangkok, will host Isan’s first international food festival, featuring dishes from Thailand’s remote northeast region. Upscale properties, like the Sofitel Raja Orchid, are planning special culinary weekend master classes for the event (www.sofitel.com).
Another tour company, Artisans of Leisure (www.artisansofleisure.com) features a personalize 11-day Vietnam for Foodies tour, complete with a vegetarian lunch and cooking demonstration with local nuns, visits to farms, bustling fish markets and noodle factories, and dinners in both restaurants and local homes ($6,455 US pp), along with other Asian food tours.
Top international hotels throughout southeast Asia have picked up on the culinary tourism trend, many offering regular cooking classes and more intensive culinary programs for guests.

NEWFOUNDLAND: The Rock may seem like an unlikely destination for food lovers, but there may be no other place in Canada to discover as many unique regional dishes or ingredients, from cod cheeks and seal flippers to bake apples, partridge berries, salt beef and hard tack. Stop at Belbin’s Grocery – a historic family-run neighborhood store – where you’ll find homemade seal flipper pie next to the lasagna in the freezer, and Purity pulled taffy and syrups (www.belbins.com). It’s a similar – but bigger – shopping experience at the iconic Bidgood’s supermarket, where jars of “bottled moose” and seal, raisin tea biscuits, and huge slabs of salt cod cram the shelves. Speaking of cod, their gelatinous tongues are on the menu everywhere, classically served with salty “scrunchions” (crispy pork fat) or fresh fruit chutney. Foodies can sign up with chef Bob Arniel and his Chef to Go cooking classes to learn to create dishes like caribou samosas, bake apple-infused crème brulee and his Barrens Blend (wild berry) steamed puddings with screech sauce. Along with classic Irish pubs and traditional eateries like Velma’s or Ches’ for fish and chips, there are contemporary restaurants creating inventive regional cuisine, from the café at The Rooms (the stunning contemporary provincial museum, gallery and archive space) to Bianca’s or Restaurant 21, where the caribou is served with a molasses glaze and smoked partridge berries. You can even visit the Rodrigues Winery where they are making a wide array fruit wines from the wild island bake apples and other berries www.rodrigueswinery.com). Or head south along the eastern shore to Ferryland for a Lighthouse Picnic – one of the most beautiful, and scenic, lunches you’ll find on the island.

SOAVE, ITALY: In Italy, where many of the top wineries only open their cellars by appointment or offer private tasting, the Soave region of the Veneto is an exception.
Just an hour west of Venice, on speedy highway A 27, a jog north before you hit Verona puts you in Soave – both a town and a wine region. Soave was the first area in Italy to create an “enoturista” or wine route for touring, aimed at linking wineries, historical sights and good spots to stop for food and lodging (www.stradadelvinosoave.com). This is the place where the indigenous Garganega grape is used to make the typical dry white Soave wines, but there are also sweet Recioto di Soave dessert wines (made with grapes dried in cool attic rooms before pressing) to try.
The ancient castle and walled city of Soave - a 10th century fortress set high on a hill - is in view wherever you are in the region and makes the perfect backdrop to the Medieval White Wine Festival held each spring. You can begin visiting Soave wineries for tastings right inside the ancient town walls. Start at the wine route office and they will help plot your tour, from the local Cantina di Soave co-operative, with its tasting bar and large wine shop, to the premium producers like Coffele and Pieropan on the main street, or just sit in a local café and taste. Along the wine route, you can visit excellent family-owned wineries like Ca Rugate, Gini, La Cappucina, Filippi, Suavia and Montetondo, some which also offer bed and breakfast style accommodation.
On the food side, this is the land of Cazzano cherries, chestnuts, Vialone Nano rice for risotto and pork products from fat, hand-tied dried sopressa sausages to lardo (an amazingly delicious combination of seasoned pork fat and cracklings to spread on bread). Find traditional dishes like risi bisi (rice and green peas) and suckling pig at La Cappuccina restaurant operated by the winery in Monteforte d’Alpone (www.lacappuccina.it) or dine at the elegant Le Lance D’Oro at Le Cedrare villa in Illasi (www.lecedrare.it). A most extraordinary charcuterie and cheese purveyor is Benedetti, a stylish destination deli and cheese shop worth the pilgrimage to Sant’Anna d’Alfaedo (www.benedettilessinia.it), north of Negrar.

LAS VEGAS: Gone are the days when dining in Las Vegas meant bellying up to a cheap buffet to refuel between hands of blackjack.
For sheer spectacle, Vegas has it all – visual sensory overload, opulence and non-stop entertainment for adults seeking escape. And with satellite versions of some of America’s best restaurants, from Michael Mina’s Seablue (the new Aqua) to Charlie Palmer’s Vegas version of Aureole (complete with three-storey wine tower and “Charlie’s Angels” rappeling down to retrieve your vinous selection), and Wolfgang Puck’s second Spago, it’s become a virtual theme park for foodies.
Everyone who’s anyone has a restaurant in sin city, Joel Robuchon at the exclusive Mansion at the MGM Grand, Alain Ducasse with Mix atop the Mandalay Bay, Daniel Boulud’s Brasserie at Wynn Las Vegas, Jean Georges Vongerichten’s Prime steakhouse at Bellagio, Bradley Ogden’s eponymous American cuisine at Caesar’s Palace, even Nobu doing his classic Asian fusion at the Hardrock Casino.
Restaurant guide guru Alain Gayot notes that Las Vegas has the highest concentration of Master Sommeliers, and claims Las Vegas now equals or exceeds New York when it comes to top eateries.
“Not Chicago nor Los Angles, Paris or San Francisco can brag about such ratings from Gayot.com today,” he writes on his eponymous website.
With all of that gambling money flowing, these are spare-no-expense spaces, designed by some of the best architects and interior designers in the world. At the highly rated Picasso at Bellagio, there are $50 million worth of real Picasso paintings on the walls, never mind Julian Serrano’s artistic cuisine. If you’re planning to pop the question and have moola to burn, the MGM Grand offers a $20,000 weekend “engagement” package (including Robochon’s 16-course dinner for two, $1,000 for beverages, and engraved Rolex watches for you both).
Las Vegas like Disneyland for restaurant wonks – find a wealthy gambler and go.

FRANSCHHOEK, SOUTH AFRICA
This long, narrow valley, once known as the “valley of the elephants,” is now better known for its urban wild life – that is, the strip of upscale restaurants that have made this small town the gastronomic capital of the Cape. The Franschhoek Valley boasts some of South Africa’s top 100 restaurants, including the Chef of the Year two years running. With only 7,000 permanent residents and 34 restaurants, including 17 which are attached to the valley’s 29 wineries, it’s wining and dining central.
French Hugenots planted the region’s first grapes around Franschhoek (French Corner) in the 1600s. Today the region is the home of Semillon and Marc Kent’s lovely rich and honeyed Boekenhoutskloof Semillon – made with fruit from old bush vines, some over 100 years old – is the benchmark example.
Dubbed “the culinary capital of South Africa”, Franschhoek is an excellent base for a superb food and wine tour. Stay at one of the many inns, like the Relais & Chateau Le Quartier Francais in the centre of town, dine on chef Rueben Riffel’s celebrated contemporary cuisine at funky Reuben’s (named the best restaurant and best chef in the country in 2004), and tour the many excellent local wineries where fine dining is part of the experience. For a wine and cheese picnic (or just some serious snooping) visit Franschhoek’s La Cotte Wine and Cheese Shop, where Ludwig Maske has a full selection of eclectic Cape wines and an array of local and imported cheeses (www.lacotte.co.za). In Cape Town, stay in the sleek and chic Arabella Sheraton Hotel, and take a cooking class with celeb chef Peter Goffe-Wood at his modern food alchemy kitchen (www.kitchencowboys.co.za). Enjoy the excellent Cap Classique bubblies (South Africa’s answer to Champagne), try the bobotie (curried meat pie), have grilled snoek and kingclip (local fish), ostrich or boerwurst (spicy lamb sausage) at an Afrikaner braai (barbecue), and then head out to Sante Wellness Centre for a vinotherapy detox before the 24-hour flight home.

CHILE’S COLCHAGUA VALLEY
The Colchagua Valley has been called “the next Napa” and “one of the country’s most successful regions,” and for good reason. Here you’ll find some of the finest Chilean winemakers creating some of the Chile’s most impressive premium wines – especially big reds made with Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec, Syrah and the unique Chilean Carmenère.
Technically, the Colchagua Valley(www.valledecolchagua.cl) is a sub-region of the much larger Rapel Valley, south of Santiago. You can take the historic Tren del Vino steam train or drive Ruta 5, the busy north-south highway that bisects the country, then head west to Santa Cruz, a pretty Spanish wine town that early planners might have conjured when building Sonoma.
The Colchagua Valley is a unique micro climate and pocket of local culture. Here, where the best vineyards climb up into the steep foothills, farm work is done with horse-drawn implements. It’s cowboy country and you still see gauchos, with broad-brimmed chupalla hats, traveling rural road on horseback or strolling in the village square. Friday nights in same square are the local gathering place – grab a bench to watch people, listen to local musicians and nosh on a sausage or grilled empanadas from a street vendor.
But it’s wine that is making this pretty valley a tourist destination. Tucked between the Andes and the coastal hills, has the kind of steep topography and maritime-influenced microclimate that is attracting investment from big name wineries like Casa Lapostolle, Viña Montes, Caliterra and Araucano. The Emiliana vineyards practice organic and biodynamic viticulture, with goats and chickens roaming among the vines.reuben And historic wineries like Viú Manent and Casa Silva welcome visitors with winery restaurants, while the latter also has comfortable boutique hotel on the property.
These forward-thinking wine producers have also created the first wine tourism circuit in Chile – making the Colchagua Valley one of the most accessible wine regions in the country. From their Viñas de Colchagua and Ruta del Vino office in pretty Santa Cruz, you can organize a guided winery tour (www.rutadelvino.cl/). The four-star Hotel Santa Cruz and restaurant here, overlooking the village square, makes a perfect base for touring, or you can find a comfortable guest house like Hotel Parador de la Vina.
While Chile isn’t really known for its haute cuisine, you can find local specialties on the menu here – from the ubiquitous Pisco Sour cocktail (made with their own high-octane brandy, egg whites and sweet lime), to razor clams baked with cheese and beef with quinoa and pebre, a spicy local salsa. For cooking classes in the country, plan a visit to Mirador de Lolol Restaurant (reservas@rutadelvino.cl)
Or hook up with a tour company that specializes in wine touring in Chile, like Montana-based Bella Treks (www.bellatreks.com) - their 10 day wine-tours of Chile and Argentina start at $2950 (US) pp.

(this story appeared in the Toronto Globe and Mail, 2007)

©Cinda Chavich
www.tastereport.com

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