In case you missed my column in this edition of Dish Magazine…..

For me, cozy is being inside but seeing the wind blow the snow around outside.  You can do this and enjoy savoury soups at Terrace 55 in Assiniboine Park or the Provence Bistro at the Niakwa Golf and Country Club. The Peasant Cookery has a couple of snugly booths to enjoy gooey poutine (to add an extra layer of insulation).

Sipping a glass of red wine in front of the fireplace at Buccacino’s or Confusion Corner Bar & Grill can warm up an evening-especially if you are getting caught up with a close friend.  The toss cushions and soft drapery of the Clay Oven on Kenaston is sure to cozy you up and an order of their Vindaloo Shrimp guarantees it (you can decide the fieriness).

The wood burning ovens at Pizzeria Gusto, Civita and Bonfire Bistro are sure to throw some heat.  Doesn’t matter what you order-its all good!  A hot made- from -scratch cocoa at Baked Expectations should increase your cozy quotient.          

If an intimate pub is your cup of tea, head to The Grove or the King’s Head for a pint and fish and chips.  Speaking of tea-special local blends are concocted at Cornelia Bean on Academy and are also served up, down the road at Saucers Cafe.  Isn’t it lovely to warm your hands around a cuppa? 

Somehow just “being” in St. Boniface especially during Festival is a toasty time.  Beaujena’s French Table and Step’n Out make you forget that it’s even winter outside.  Muddy Waters Smokehouse is a fun place to warm up after a skate.  Any of the Osborne Village eateries are good destinations when you stroll down the Riverwalk.  The restaurant business is a tough one after Christmas, so get out there and support Winnipeg’s bevy of cozy establishments. 

Kath’s quote:  “There is a communion of more than our bodies when bread is broken and wine drunk. And that is my answer, when people ask me: Why do you write about hunger, and not wars or love?” –M.F.K. Fisher

love Winnipeg

When I read Frances Mayes first story of Tuscany entitled Under the Tuscan Sun-I had to go.  Not to Tuscany per se but to the city of her weekend rendezvous-Positano.  And Positano was as perfect as she described it.  Shimmering light, fresh ocean breezes and amazing food!  And so it was that the Amalfi coast was the second stop of our Italian adventure this past fall.

Life has mellowed for Frances, she is a Grandma now and she and her husband are well-entrenched in Italian life.  With the exception of one long chapter where she travels the trail of her favourite Renaissance painter (I was bored and I even studied art history) -I loved every other word of the recounting of a  year in Frances’ rich life.

The descriptions of six hour dinner parties at an outside table set for two dozen are enthralling.  She not only details the courses and menus but also provides the recipes!

In two paragraphs near the end of this book, she describes what I could never put my finger on about the essence of Italy: ” How do Italian friends naturally keep the jouissance they were born with?  I’ve noticed they don’t talk about priorities.  They work but don’t become slaves.  Always they have time to visit.  Early on I learned that in Italian, there is no word for stress; it’s a recent import: lo stress.  Just wasn’t a concept.  Now lo stress exists, but in rural Tuscany work and play are happily still balanced, giving the chance not to just enjoy but to revel in everyday life.  Especially the rituals of the table and the piazza.  …They are doing what they need to do by being.  People who own so much historical time must feel more comfortable inside time. I see: Time can be a river for floating.  Our friends drop in.  They call and propose spontaneous excursions.  They stay out late having dinner on Wednesday nights.  Italians relish the day. Carpe diem, they repeated for centuries that they don’t have to say it anymore.”

Kath’s quote: “And that is … how they are. So terribly physically all over one another. They pour themselves one over the other like so much melted butter over parsnips. They catch each other under the chin, with a tender caress of the hand, and they smile with sunny melting tenderness into each other’s face.” -D.H. Lawrence

I recently had a conversation with my son and his wife about shopping at only the outer rim of the grocery store.  That is the dairy case, fresh fruit and veggie section, bakery, etc. in order to buy only whole and fresh ingredients and to avoid the processed food that is contained in the centre of the supermarket.  Newly inspired, I made brownies last night and here is the from scratch recipe: 

Place 4 squares of baker’s chocolate and 3/4 c butter in a glass bowl and microwave at full power for 2 minutes.  Remove and stir until chocolate is well blended.  Stir in 2 c of sugar (1 c at a time) .  Then blend in 3 eggs and 1 t of vanilla.  Next blend in 1 c flour and 1 c chocolate chunks (I used a mixture of chocolate chips, chopped milk chocolate and semi-sweet chocolate).  Pour into a greased 9 x 12 pan and bake at 375 degrees for 25-30 minutes.  My husband likes his brownies goey  in the middle so I removed them at this time but for a more cakey brownie bake another 5 minutes.

I learned this: “The name for the cocoa tree is theobrama, which means ‘food of the Gods’.  I know that chocolate is meant for us, however, because the melting point of chocolate just happens to be the temperature within your very human mouth.”  –The School of Essential Ingredients

On my last trip to Mexico I purchased Nestle’s Abuelita hot chocolate.  Coincidentally Abuelita plays a key role in The School of Essential ingredients.  If you love an authentic hot chocolate (not made from powder) you will love this.  Imagine the hot chocolate that was made in the chocolate shop of the movie Chocolat-mmm.  

The brownies were delicious especially because I accompanied them with a fine glass of Chilean Merlot.  If you have not tried red wine and chocolate together-you must.

Today I was at a meeting and a friend brought brownies for dessert.  I had to have a taste to compare them to my mine.  I especially enjoyed theirs  and when I requested the recipe I was told that the mix was from Costco!  Perhaps I should rethink the outer rim of the grocery store strategy.

What you see before you, my friend, is the result of a lifetime of chocolate.”
Katherine Hepburn

When I go on a trip, reading is one of the best parts of the adventure (after eating of course).  I carefully select the books and put them in a stack by my suitcase.  Before my last vacation, I decided to cheat a little bit and just start The School of Essential Ingredients to see if I was going to like it.  Two days later the book was completely read and I had been totally swept away by the characters’ stories and the author’s food analogies.  If you cherish relationships and enjoy food on a supernatural level-this book is a must read.    Here are some of my favourite excerpts to give you an idea of what I am referring to:

“To eat something that plays with your taste buds and to remember romance…If you live in your senses, slowly with attention, if you use your eyes and your fingertips and your taste buds, then romance is something you’ll never need a greeting card to make you remember.” pge 198

“Provence, when she and Carl arrived at the end of August, had smelled of lavender-the air, the sheets,  the wine, even the milk in her coffee in the morning.-the lightest of undercurrents, a watercolour world of soft purple.  She found herself breathing deeply and slowly, to pull it in, to hold it in every part of her until later. ” pge 201

“Ian slid his finger along the edge of the tiramisu, bringing it to his mouth.  The texture was warm, creamy and soft, like lips parting beneath his own, the taste utterly lacking in precision, luxurious and urgent, mysterious and comforting.”  pge 233

“Poetry isn’t any different from food, Tom.  We humans want to make things, and those things sink into us, whether we know it or not.  Maybe you won’t remember what I cooked you last week, but your body will.” pge 121

And finally my favourite: “We’re all just ingredients, Tom.  What matters is the grace with which you cook the meal.” pge 130

Read Erica Bauermeister’s delicious book and then buy yourself multiple copies so that you can give them to people who love food and love this bittersweet life.

Kath’s quote: “A good book should leave you… slightly exhausted at the end.  You live several lives while reading it.”  ~William Styron

My favourite summer pastime is sitting on the beach and reading books set in warm places.  Last year I read a book called “Summer of My Greek Taverna” by Tom Stone.  I loved the memoir because the writer so captured the excitement and frustration of living his dream.  The recipes that he included made my mouth water on the beach.

Greek Taverna

Here’s my version of his Chicken Retsina:  Rinse 6 whole chicken breasts and pat dry. In a large bowl, combine 1/2 c Retsina wine  , 1/2 c olive oil, 1/4 c freshly squeezed lemon juice, 2 T oregano, 1 t thyme, 1 t basil and salt &  pepper to taste. Add chicken breasts, cover and marinate overnight. Cook on an outdoor grill, basting occasionally with remaining marinade. This can also be baked in a 350 F. oven for one hour, basting several times.  Retsina is a white wine treated with pine resin, following an ancient Greek tradition.  It kind of reminds me of the smell of Pine-sol and it is an acquired taste that frankly I’ve never acquired.  Ouzo-now that’s another story.

Olympia

While goofing around in the town of Olympia, Greece,  I decided to lie down on a flokati rug in front of a shop for a photo op.  When I knelt down to get back up, a rusty nail appeared through the rug and punctured the flesh just below my knee.  The shop owner was frantic-concerned that I would report the incident to the group that I was traveling with.  The only doctor in town was at a wedding and so the shop owner tried to tend to me while the doctor was summoned.  He sat me down and cleaned the wound and then poured the same antiseptic into my glass.  You guessed it-my first taste of ouzo.  Anyway, I had to have a tetanus shot but I didn’t seem to mind with that lovely nectar warming my insides.  Later in the evening-I found myself dancing!

If you have a craving for Greek food and choose not to cook-  The Greek Market on Corydon Ave. has many heat and eat meals.  My favourite is their Chicken breast stuffed with spinach and feta and wrapped in filo pastry.

Spinach and Feta Chicken in Filo and Stuffed Zucchini