When I lived in Savannah, Georgia with my brother one summer, I wrestled with the frustratingly slow pace of life, of traffic, of humid and lifeless Sunday afternoons. My brother and his two roommates lived on Budweisers, frozen hotdogs and tobacco, so there wasn’t much cooking happening. No one had any interest in leaving the city. Life was fast enough for them, but for me, it felt like a trap.

Soon enough, I, too, was “Ma’am-ing” and “Sir-ing” people, sitting in friends’ garages clinking beer bottles on Sunday evenings, telling crass stories, dipping and chain smoking unfiltered Camels. That’s a lie. I mean, I don’t smoke, but if I did I’d roll my own.

Continue reading A Slow Goodbye »

Festival
649 College Street
416-539-3985

They are all sorts of travelling rules: pack your identification cards and money in a waist pouch that fits snugly under your clothes. Plan to arrive 2 to 3 hours early to the airport, don’t leave your bags unattended, and bring your own toilet paper… There are books upon books devoted to travel preparation and safety and while I like to be prepared for the trip, I prefer fitting in when I’m there. Fine, I’m still recovering from social extradition in high school.

In Italy, for example, I find myself gesticulating dramatically, a natural accompaniment to passionate conversation, which of course can be something as un-academic as whose mother makes the best tomato sauce. As expected, when it comes to the Italian diet, I pretend I am one of the locals as well, capable of digesting inordinate amounts of alcohol, cheese, pasta and gelato. I am beginning however to understand the repercussions of excessive consumption, though in my youthful naivety, I still think I can beat the system. Preparation, as with travelling, was all I needed.

Continue reading Party in my Mouth at Festival »

I’m not sure how I feel about Jamie Kennedy these days. He will forever be the arbiter of local food, lending his presence and his bed head hair to Greenbelt gatherings in the name of sustainability. No one can deny him this title. However, at the Gardiner Museum’s recent lecture, From the Ground Up: Nurturing the Art of Sustainable Living, nothing sounded new. Was I growing tired of his refrain?

The Gardiner Museum has never struck me as local food’s chief advocate. Ceramics, clay, delicate and pretty things just don’t mesh with the gritty, earthbound perspective of farmers, though the erudite moderator Lori Stahlbrand, founder and president of Local Food Plus, was quick to quash my initial hesitation with the simple remark that clay is part of the soil in which food grows. Oh. Ok.

Continue reading Green is the New Little Black Dress OR It Takes A Village to Make a Meal »

Excuses aren’t hard to come by when you want to ditch work early to make it to the market. I was going a’hoarding and I was serious.

Last Tuesday, I took my money and my squealing to Riverdale Farm after making up something about a migraine (Karma, I see you coming after me already).

I never go to the market with a list and I always regret it. I feel like I’m picking out animals at the shelter. I want them all.

Continue reading Stocking Up For Winter »

On Sunday, September 16th, over 50 chefs, producers, farmers and winemakers will team up with Slow Food Toronto and Evergreen at the Brick Works to host a picnic celebrating the best of Ontario.

With the little snail as its symbol, the Slow Food Companion reads, “Slow Food links pleasure and food with awareness and responsibility”, and pleasure is what I was in search of. What followed, naturally, was in fact awareness and responsibility, but much to my delight, respect, discipline and passion.

For those who are new to the idea of Slow Food, you’ll be glad to know that it is indeed a revolution based on pleasure. Paul DeCampo, Convivium Leader of Slow Food Toronto and a man of youthful exuberance, tirelessly shares his expertise when we meet one afternoon. “It’s a little bit like apple pie,” he chuckles, “who’s going to say, No thanks, I’d like Velveeta please?” There is, however, the nagging notion that the pursuit of pleasure affords itself only to an elite few. While this resistance might seem to have plagued the movement in theory, in practice chefs are aligning themselves with Slow Food faster than its name would lead us to believe.

Continue reading Ready, Set, Slow Down »

Aroma Espresso Bar
500 Bloor Street West
416-536-7750

With the hustle and bustle of the Annex, the neighbourhood was an obvious choice of venue for Aroma Espresso Bar, the Israeli import and only the second location in North America - the other is in New York City’s Soho neighbourhood. I met Anat Davidzon, operating partner, one Friday morning to see how she’s settling in to their new digs. She is excited by the varying demographics of the neighbourhood which is home to everyone from students and club-goers to working professionals.

At 10am, a smattering of people occupy the large space, a former JJ Muggs venue. An older couple takes a late breakfast, two twenty-somethings gossip about the latest Hollywood scandal, a single man holds up the newspaper to cover his face; yes, this is most definitely a coffee shop, er, an espresso bar.

Continue reading The Smell of Success »

Jamie Kennedy Wine Bar
9 Church Street
416-362-1957
Brunch for two with cocktails, tax and tip: $65

At the Slow Food Green Link conference back in February at the Hart House, I had the opportunity to hear Tobey Nemeth, long-time sous-chef at Jamie Kennedy Kitchens, speak passionately about her views on the importance of seasonal and local products and it hit me: this is what Canadian cuisine is all about. I wondered if this vision, one that some still consider a passing fad, would translate seamlessly to a meal normally relegated to one of convenience.

On my latest visit to the Wine Bar for brunch, Tobey Nemeth is cheerily chatting up my two dining companions and me at the bar that winds around the small open kitchen. “It’s only our eighth week serving brunch so I’m very protective of the menu. It’s all just really good,” she gushes.

Continue reading Bringing Brunch Back Home »

Il Gelatiere
647 Mount Pleasant Road
416-488-2663
Small cup with one or two flavours: $3.90

I pride myself on being a one-man kind of woman. Yes, there was that one summer in Florence when I had to have it every day, sometimes twice; when I’d slyly frequent three or four places so that I wouldn’t be recognized, so that the locals wouldn’t fare le corna at me. I admit it. Then, I was a promiscuous tramp who was after all the gelato I could stomach.

Continue reading Il Gelatiere »

The Fish Store
657 College Street
416-533-2822
Dinner for two with all taxes, tip, and soda/juice: $20-$30, depending on the type of fish

I’m not the deep-frying type. I have the occasional craving for fries or onion rings, though generally I limit their consumption to equally greasy pubs. But for a short period of time every spring, there is an item that warrants, nay demands, its fling with oil. I’m talking about soft-shell crabs. Like a summer love, they glide into town with the breeze and stay a mere week or two, taking with them a piece of your heart. Of course, there is nothing to do but wait the long wait until next spring for the familiar lover, er, crustacean, to make its reappearance.

Continue reading Feeling Crabby? »