Before D and I were married, I lived in four different downtown apartments all within about 4 blocks of each other  and I came to know the area south of Portage Ave. as my neighbourhood.  I went to school, worked, grocery-shopped, dined and attended a myriad of artistic events all within walking distance.  For much of this time, I didn’t own a car but I could perfectly manage to obtain everything  I needed and wanted, without one. Every once in a while D and I are tempted to choose this lifestyle again and now a days there are even more reasons to draw us back to downtown living.  I have had an opportunity to tour The Avenue apartment building recently including their splendid roof top space and could easily see myself nestled in, right on Portage Ave.

This fantasy might mean that Arkadash Bistro and Lounge could become our neighbourhood hang out.

As soon as I walked into the sleek space, I was reminded of the long  and narrow bistros of the East Village of New York city.  The decor of Arkadash is so sophisticated that it could easily hold its own in the Big Apple.  I understand that the husband of the chef was the designer/architect for the make over and my high praise goes to him and his space.

But to the food!

Lunch began with a little basket of focaccia bread with olive oil for dipping and this delicious soup of the day.  Too much time has past since this visit to remember what it was, but I do recall a spicy chili taste.

One friend chose the pulled pork.  Even though this photo doesn’t do the dish justice, I am happy to see that Chef Karen doesn’t disguise the savoury taste of slow cooked Berkshire pork with an unnecessary barbeque sauce.  The moist taste of good pork is velvety and distinctive when prepared properly and this was.  The meat was served with corn tortillas to wrap it up.

Another friend selected the Turkish grilled chicken which she enjoyed with the couscous.  Both these dishes were accompanied by baked vanilla pumpkin which received kudos.

I tucked into this lunch feature of grilled scallops with a simple pasta.  It was just my cuppa tea as the sweet meat of the scallop was all I needed with a spear of butter- tossed pasta (no sauce required).  Everyone agreed that the local ingredients and preparation was exceptional but we all wondered why the food was not piping hot.  In all honesty it was luke warm.  This is in the small points department, but hot food is a  basic dining expectation.  I look forward to visiting again when I am sure this will be different.

I will return as I am eggplant obsessed and intrigued by the starter of “Toenail of a Dog”, and the entree of “Imam Baldi”.  I had the pleasure of meeting cousins and restaurant partners Karen and Kelvin and we spoke at length about their commitment to local ingredients and serving the neighbourhood.  They have exciting plans ahead for the service of High Tea along with their continued offerings of jazz on Friday evenings in the lounge.

Kath’s quote:
“Manhattan is a narrow island off the coast of New Jersey devoted to the pursuit of lunch.”-Raymond Sokolov

Love-that is all.

Our plans are in place for Thanksgiving weekend and I have my assigned dishes to prepare at “Life is Good” and then wrap and carry to “Kappy’s Korner” where we will all assemble.

This will likely be the last Thanksgiving dinner spent in this way as Sister #2 and her husband will have their neighbouring cottage completed by this time next year.

I think that the great room in that locale was designed especially with extended family dinners in mind.

The biggest hit most years is Sister-in-law #2’s Pumpkin Crunch Dessert.  This year, I am actually remembering to post her recipe in advance o that you can make it for your festivities if you wish.  39 of my family members think that it is the best thing to happen to Thanksgiving dinner.

Love-that is all.

Where did September go (or the summer for that matter)?  There have been a couple of little things that I have been meaning to mention.  So here goes, in no particular order:

1.  On Labour Day weekend, we invited J2’s parents to join us for a beach day and barbeque.  Unfortunately, the weather kept us away from the beach but we still ha a lovely barbeque supper.  J1 who is a wizard at the grill, created new twist on a burger.

When the patties were fully cooked, he placed them on the centre of a flour tortilla, folded it into a hexagon and then placed it back on the barbeque.

The result was a crunchy version of a burger.   Try it sometime.

2. We are almost at the final week of our garden share with Blue Lagoon Organics.  We have especially enjoyed roasted beets with their jackets still on-something that I am not hesitant to do with organic produce.

We also loved pit pat squash.  It is so pretty and so delicious.  But our biggest surprize were Jerusalem artichokes.  The tuber is not grown anywhere near Jerusalem and the veggie is way more akin to a potato than an artichoke.

Recently, they have been referred to as sunchokes perhaps because their yellow flower resembles a sunflower.  When tossed in a little canola oil, roasted and then sprinkled with sea salt, they are absolutely delicious! The texture is like a potato but the taste is both sweeter and nuttier.

3. The last stop of our “Be Well” weekend was at the Blue Moon Saskatoon Orchard near Rossburn, Manitoba.

We enjoyed one last lunch on the farm and I was enthralled with the purple-edged carrots and the addition of Saskatoon preserves to our chicken wraps.

I now cannot imagine a wrap without the sweet inclusion.

I am not inclined to desserts but enjoy jams and jellies with a piece of multi-grain toast after a hearty breakfast at the lake.

Kath’s quote: “This is not that, and that is certainly not this, and at the same time an oyster stew is not stewed, and although they are made of the same things and even cooked almost the same way, an oyster soup should never be called a stew, nor stew soup.”-M.F.K. Fisher

Love-that is all.

You may or may not know that I write for the Canstar community newspapers.  I recently penned a column regarding “Magic Sushi 2” and when I returned to the restaurant the following week, the family who own it, gathered round me in appreciation, to tell me how happy they were with my recounting but also about the extra business that had been flowing in as a direct result.  D and I are all about promoting the incredible number of exceptional restaurants in the city and so we especially wanted to shed a positive light on a little Vietnamese place that had come highly recommended by J2’s parents.  Unfortunately, I must have been too verbose and the editor at Canstar had to omit the last paragraph of the story which is where the headline had been fashioned from.  As result the story did not make sense and indeed seemed somewhat derogatory, when my intention was the opposite.  So here it is written in its entirety.

“Very good friends of ours (in fact their daughter married our son) have been recommending the Binh An Restaurant (1076 Main St.) for years but because it is close to their neighbourhood and not ours, we have not found an excuse to visit.  They encouraged us for three reasons: they speculated that we would be charmed by the restaurant owner; they predicted that we would love the food and they care for us enough that they wanted to share the healing powers of the Rare Beef Soup with us.

We started with shrimp wrapped around sugar cane accompanied by rice noodles, crunchy, fresh bean sprouts, julienned carrot, slivers of cucumber, romaine lettuce ribs and an amazing herb that I could not identify (unlike the basil or mint I have had in other Vietnamese restaurants).  You get very messy making a wrapped up package of these ingredients and dipping them into either your choice of hoi sin or fish sauce.  My husband and I are not afraid of a little mess and know that good food is worth the extra effort, so we rolled up our sleeves.

When we were deciding on a Vermicelli dish, the owner Binh immediately declared “19”! This deluxe version comes with charbroiled pork, teeny spring rolls, pork ball (more like a patty) and pork hash.  There were also more crunchy bean sprouts, carrot, cucumber and fish sauce.  I tossed all of mine together into a little soup bowl and slurped down every last noodle.

I could have stopped there but in the mean while, my husband was “oohing” and “aahing” over the Medium Rare Beef Noodle soup, which he insisted I try.  We had never tasted a beef broth like it and Binh shared his secret with us: they simmer beef bones for 10 and sometimes up to 14 hours and this he indicates is the reason why the broth is so healthy.  We guessed that the thinly sliced rare beef must be added to the broth raw so as to let the broth itself do the cooking.  The result is absolutely delicious and satisfying.

Binh Le is the owner of the Binh An restaurant and he told with us that the restaurant is named for his son.  He recounts the story of arriving in Winnipeg in the early 1980s via boat with other refugees from Vietnam.  He returned to his home country to marry his wife and they now have four teenage children.  But when his first child was born, the baby boy had a heart issue and had to be cared for by experts in Montreal.  Now his healthy son is 15 and Binh not only expounds about how amazing Canada has been to his family but that the meaning of the restaurant’s name is “everything okay”.  ”

Kath’s quote: “Only the pure of heart can make good soup” –Beethoven

Love-that is all.  (Can you see a heart image in here?  Neither can I, I just wanted to see if anyone was paying attention).

1.  Those beautiful yellow fields that you see in July around Manitoba are canola fields.  (I always thought were mustard fields-duh!)

2.  After the pretty flower has disappeared a pod is formed which contains the tiny seeds that are crushed to make the oil.

3.  Canola growers are some of the nicest people you would ever want to meet. Many farms are multi-generational and the operators and their families are highly educated and care deeply about their land, their crops and our environment.

4.  Many canola growers produce a variety of crops, raise livestock and have “other” jobs too.  They are all trying to just do their best for their families and their communities.

5.  Canola oil tastes really good.  I have recently started baking with canola and have replaced my olive oil bottle with a canola bottle by my stove for sauteeing.  I still will use a drizzle of olive oil for its unique flavour (especially my coveted bottle from our friends’ own olive trees in Sicily).  Infused canola oils are fantastic!

6.  I am still learning about cold-pressed canola but understand that it is “purer” and therefore (in my mind at least) even healthier.

7.  Canola is a key crop which contributes to more jobs in Manitoba and thereby accelerates the growth of our provincial economy.

8.  Manitoba Canola Growers are wonderful community supporters.  You will see their sponsorship at work wherever you go in this province.

9.  Canola growers want us to “Be Well”.  I am taking this to heart and have really stepped up my game in examining many aspects of my life and lifestyle.

10.  Ellen, Jenn and Leanne are decidedly the most thoughtful and considerate people that I know.  Their passion about their product and brand is nothing short of astounding.  They LOVE their growers and speak proudly about them at every opportunity.  They are so kind to those who are considered part of the Canola family.  The attention to detail of the recent “Be Well” camp was meticulous.  Literally every single thing that you could possibly need, want or desired was already planned on our account.  The “campers” felt listened to, valued, coddled and loved.

Kath’s quote:

” The best six doctors anywhere
And no one can deny it
Are sunshine, water, rest, and air
Exercise and diet.
These six will gladly you attend
If only you are willing
Your mind they’ll ease
Your will they’ll mend
And charge you not a shilling.”
~Nursery rhyme quoted by Wayne Fields, What the River Knows

Love -that is all.