The highlight of Food Musings’ year has come and gone. I have attended the FBC conference every year since its inception with the exception of the year that it was scheduled on the same weekend as daughter Boo and the Frenchman’s wedding day. The direct flight from Winnipeg was a breeze and because I was watching downloaded episodes of The Night Manager, I actually wished that the flight had been longer.

I arrived before my roommate Bridget and was pleased with the view from our 17th floor window.

The afternoon started with a lovely Cabernet Merlot from Peller Estates as we fetched our swag bags.

I chatted with the wine server about staying right next to the Peller vineyards when we visited Niagara on the Lake a couple of years ago. I had to run my bag back upstairs as it was bulging with loot.

Green lentil and roasted garlic humus

Sundried tomato and split pea hummus

Lentils .org was to be the sponsor of our first dinner and kick off cocktail party and they apparently must have thought that we needed a pre-cocktail party nibble and glass of wine. I for one was grateful. It helped me shrug off some stress and allow others to take care of me (not something I usually do).

Bacon Chocolate Cookie Truffles

The official Cocktail Reception was in the penthouse of the hotel. I did a lap and found the most delectable morsel from the Ontario Pork table. They generously shared the recipe with me. It is below.

Lentils.org also was the sponsor of that evening’s dinner. The organizers had assembled some of Ottawa’s best chefs. The intention was a dine-around atmosphere selecting small plates when we were tempted.

Representing the Wellington Gastropub was Chef Chris Deraiche. He served a Lentil, Sweet Potato Pierogi, accompanied by Cider Pickled Cabbage and Crème Fraiche. I guess my Slavic roots were showing as I chose the pierogi as my favourite taste of the evening.

A Lentil Sausage was created by Chef Kevin Benes of Carben Food + Drink.

Chef Olivia Cruikshank of Pure Kitchen served a Green lentil Enchilada with Salsa Verde, Cashew Cheese and Split Red Lentil Garnish. Unfortunately, I missed out on Chef Joe Thottungal of Coconut Lagoon.

I was lucky enough to snag one of the few dining tables that had been set up. Because chairs were at a premium and everyone was pretty bushed from the day, we had a revolving door of visitors.

The beds at the Delta were divine and I was ready to settle in for the night.

Kath’s quote: “Lentils are friendly – the Miss Congeniality of the bean world”.-Laurie Colwin

Love never fails.

 

The first real dump of snow came down the day and evening that a number of bloggers and Manitoba Chicken Fans were to be assembling to batch cook some Christmas appetizers. In spite of the slippery roads and traffic congestion, the turn out was great.

We gathered at the Kitchen Sync, the cooking studio that I have raved about previously in this space.

On this evening, we were being coached by Chef Brent Barna of Pine Ridge Hollow fame. He had been the guest Chef at another Manitoba Chicken occasion that I had the pleasure of attending.

Our family loves appetizer recipes, whether they be a nibble with a cocktail before our mandatory Sunday dinners or as one of many small plates that pass for dinner. I have often thought that an appetizer exchange held in the same manner as you might participate in a Christmas baking exchange would be such a good idea. I even started to get an exchange going last Christmas season, to no avail.

This evening was the closest thing.

First up were Blue Moon Chicken Bites where we mixed up ground chicken, spices, panko flakes and did not use any egg. The resulting texture was firm and surprising. When they came out of the oven, we tossed them in a sauce of hot sauce mixed with Blue cheese dressing and crumbled Blue cheese.

Here is the recipe for Chicken Tartlettes with Cranberry Salsa (that recipe is below) elevated them from delicious to sensational!

Then I discovered that the salsa made everything taste wonderful, including our next recipe – Tropical Chicken Taquitos.

The evening was warm with our efforts, the opening and closing of the oven doors and the friendship that the blogging community shares.

Kath’s quote: “Cranberries: “The Indians and English use them much, boyling them with Sugar for Sauce to eat with their Meat, and it is a delicious sauce.”-John Josselyn, while visiting New England in 1663

Love, that is all.

 

I was given a very thoughtful gift this Christmas.  It was a basket of Manitoba food products.  The one that I was most excited about was the organic wild rice from Horseshoe Lake.  The lake is located in an isolated area in central Eastern Manitoba in the pre-Cambrian shield.  We used to holiday at Nutimik Lake in the Whiteshell, so the rugged rocky landscape and the pristine lakes are familiar to me.  I learned that the company has been a family run business for over 50 years and that owner Gus Carlson built one of the very first Manitoba wild rice processing plants.

Wild rice is low in calories and fat, and high in protein and natural fibre.  It also contains a wide variety of minerals and vitamins such as riboflavin and niacin.  I decided to punch up the protein even more by adding quinoa to the recipe and was very happy with the results.  The texture of the rice and therefore the cake is firm and chewy and the rice retains a nutty quality.  When mixed with celery, green onions and minced ginger the result is a complex combination of flavours.  If you think that the ginger might be too much of a surprise, try switching in out with lots of chopped garlic.

 

Kath’s quote: “rice is the best, the most nutritive and unquestionably the most widespread staple in the world.” –Escoffier

Love-that is all.

 

There are so many reasons why I love working from home.  This morning as Daughter #2 flew out the door, she said: “Mom, could you please throw my laundry in the washing machine for me”?  amd I had the time to cheerfully oblige. I took an extra long walk with our old dog as he has a very thick coat and loves the cold winter far more than the balmy summer.  I met a good friend for a long lunch and picked up a few groceries on the way home.  I will be here when the wee one gets dropped off later this afternoon so that Glamma and Poppa can babysit this evening.

But this is also the time of year when I miss the camaraderie of a busy office with silent santas and pot-luck lunches.  Last week when I was at the Global studios they were getting ready for a special group lunch and there were crock pots plugged in and various people arriving with their casseroles full of savoury treats.  I got to peak under the lid of one such covered dish and it looked so good that I made it last evening for home.

Kath”s quote: “In any world menu, Canada must be considered the vichyssoise of nations — it’s cold, half-French, and difficult to stir.”-James Stuart Keate

Love-that is all.

 

The Three Sistas and our Mom

Our family is all about tradition.  My almost 87 year old Mom is the matriarch of our family and the instigator of most of our traditions.  This year she will not be counting the heads of her enormous brood and sending her eldest to the bank to withdraw a sizable amount that she tucks into envelopes so that we can treat ourselves in which ever way we wish, she will not be setting up her little Christmas tree that simply gets brought upstairs from the basement and plugged in and she will not be ordering perogies, kielbasa and prime rib roasts and making lists of all the other dishes that will be assigned out.  The good news is that Mom survived a devastating illness this past fall and will be here to celebrate with us, arriving by taxi cab to her own home.  The bitter sweetness is that Mom will no longer live in our family home as she will soon be paneled for a nursing home and our family house of almost 60 years will be sold.  So this will be our last Christmas together on Linden Avenue.

Our tradition begins with a Christmas Eve dinner of Prime Rib roast.  The time spent together is not long as we have many family members who work in health care,  not for profit organizations and in retail, so Christmas eve is often a full working day.  As soon as dinner and dessert is served, the left overs packaged up and everything is tidied up, families start to depart for their various churches for Christmas eve services.

The church which we attend is right in our neighbourhood and so many years ago, we commenced another tradition, where the clergy of the church come over to our home to spend the time between this second service of the evening and the last, which is a midnight candle light one.  We share an egg nog, craft beer or glass of wine and have a nibble of something before they head back to church and my husband and I start filling Christmas stockings and placing the “Santa” gifts under the tree.

Is it present time yet?

On Christmas morning we are typically up by 7 am and my husband makes coffee with Bailey’s and Kahlua that we use to warm up, before we tackle our gift giving.  Before we start, we always say an individual prayer of thanksgiving for our health and love and the gifts that we are about to receive.   Gift giving goes in order from youngest to eldest and we draw out the process by hugging and kissing the giver before the next gift is given out.

Someone always gets the gift of music, so we put on our new cds while we tidy up the wrapping and try on a Christmas sweater and then we are off to be with my siblings and their families again.  We gather for Christmas brunch at my Mom’s house and have enjoyed the exact same menu for many, many years: six quiche- sausage, seafood and Lorraine, cinnamon loaf, banana muffins, sausage rolls, fruit salad, hash brown potato casserole, chocolate milk, juices, and left overs from the night before.

Once lunch is consumed and the coffee pot is poured out, we find a spot for our gift exchange.  We start with the youngest again and go around in our enormous circle until each family member has a gift chosen especially for them.  We always draw these names after Thanksgiving dinner and sometimes there is a gap in clarity because the names were drawn so long ago.  So when it is someones turn to receive a gift, there is sometimes a hesitation before the giver recalls that it is their responsibility.  The heightened tension increases the air of anticipation and hilarious results often occur.  In fact on more than one occasion I have remarked on my way home that my face and tummy hurt from laughing.  Imagine, being a part of a family of 35+ who get along fabulously, rarely quarrel and love to assemble together to bless each other with gifts and laugh until it hurts.

Some years we gather again later that day at someone elses home.  Last year my son and his wife hosted and this is only a portion of the gang that were seated in their dining room.

Here are my famous sausage rolls that I contribute each year.  They are such a hit with certain family members that my niece requested that they be served for her wedding breakfast.  I have modified the recipe over the years but it originally came from a seasonal cookbook entitled  “Company is Coming for Christmas”, a Canadian cookbook, published in 1996 and written by Jean Pare.  I get such a chuckle over remembering some of her recipes like the one for Caesar Salad: rip up a head of romaine lettuce and toss with Caesar salad dressing and croutons, sprinkle with Parmesan cheese!  I kid you not….

Kath’s quote: “No language can express the power, and beauty, and heroism, and majesty of a mother’s love. It shrinks not where man cowers, and grows stronger where man faints, and over wastes of worldly fortunes sends the radiance of its quenchless fidelity like a star. “— Edwin Hubbell Chapin

Love never fails.