The Great NY Pumpkin Race

I was in New York City a couple weeks ago for the Vendy's, but that wasn't the only foodie event in town at the time...It was also Craft Beer Week!!  My timing couldn't have been more perfect.  Prior to my trip I did a little research on local beers, Micro Breweries and Brew Pubs in and around Manhattan, which quickly made me realize that I was going to be completely overwhelmed by the variety.  So, I made a decision...I would have to focus on one type of beer.  And, well...'tis the season for PUMPKIN!!

Over a 4 day trip I managed to try 9 different pumpkin beers.  And there were at least 5 others I couldn't track down.  A far cry from the 2 or 3 that are (maybe) available up here in Ontario.  Now, I'm not going to go into every detail about the flavour and food pairings for each pumpkin beer...I'm not an expert.  But I do know that I love beer and I love pumpkin...and for the most part these beers all rocked!

Basically they can be broken down into 2 types... Let's start with the your basic pumpkin ale.  These beers generally have 5% alc and have a smooth, subtle pumpkin spice flavour.

Blue Moon is based in Denver, CO and and Saranac in New York State.

Although I wish I could have brought all 9 pumpkin beers home, my travel arrangements didn't allow for any hoarding, so I was happy to grab a couple six packs to take home.  They were dispensed of shortly after my arrival back in Canada...

For those cross border shoppers, it appears these are two of the most common pumpkin beers available in stores in upstate New York.

Others I tried include, River Horse Hipp 'O Lantern Imperial Pumpkin Ale. Lambertville, NJ. And Brooklyn Brewery Post Road Pumpkin Ale.  Brooklyn, NY

Next stop was New York City's own Heartland Brewery.  I spent an evening at one of their local brew pubs in Manhattan, and not only did this place comfort me with it's similarities to my local favourite, the Mill St. Brew Pub, it also had a selection of 3 options for pumpkin beer!

The Smiling Pumpkin Ale not only has a hilarious logo, but tastes great too. 

They also offer a beer called "Stumpkin"...a mix of the Smiling Pumpkin Ale and their Farmer John's Oatmeal Stout.  Unfortuntely I did not get a chance to try out this medley.  I did however, try their stronger Imperial Pumpkin Ale, which was very similar to the others I will describe below.  But don't order a pint of this beer, because they only serve it in goblets...how fancy!? 

So that brings us to the list strong ales...general 7-9% alc with a very pronounced, sweet pumpkin aroma.  I would compare the flavour of these strong pumpkin ales to a Hefeweizen, with it's distinctive banana and clove notes derived from the specific hefe yeast. 

Southern Tier's label offers a great (and hilarious) description of their potent ale.  Their brewery is located in Lakewood, NY.

And the final 2...

Hoppin' Frog Frog's Hollow Double Pumpkin Ale. Akron, OH.

 

Heavy Seas (Mutiny Fleet) The Great Pumpkin, Imperial Pumpkin Ale.  Halethorpe, MD

So, that's it.  I drank more pumpkin beer in one long weekend than is probably recommended, however it was totally worth it.  Now I'm left to scavenge the local LCBO's for our embarrassing selection of pumpkin ales. 

The Vendy Awards!

Check out my latest posting on Food Network Canada's "Eat St"... NYC's 7th Annual Vendy Awards!!

Showing my Ontario Food Trucks love at the Vendy's

Birthday Bacon Jam

I had been meaning to make bacon jam for a long while now, but unfortunately sometimes life gets in the way of consuming random pork products.  With some down time at home planned for this weekend, I figured it would be a perfect opportunity to play in the kitchen.  And it's not like I needed another excuse, but since Saturday was my birthday I figured a few extra calories didn't count!

For me, cooking is not so much a routine of following a recipe.  I generally look up several variations of whatever it is I want to make, then just go for it in the kitchen.  So, I'm sorry if anybody wants an exact recipe, but I rarely write down exactly how much of everything I put into my dishes.

I started off by caramalizing a couple medium sized onions and frying off about a pound of double smoked bacon....

2 onions, butter, salt and sugar.  Low-med heat for about 45 mins.

When the onions were done (a little darker than the pic above), I added the bacon to the pan and began mixing in the following ingredients; Brown sugar, maple syrup, pepper, cider vinegar and coffee.

(I'm loving my Neat Pitch Black coffee these days.  A stop at this Ottawa Valley coffee shop in Burnstown is a must if you are heading down highway 508 towards Calabogie.)

So, everything gets mixed in a large saucepan and briefly cooked down to intensify the flavours.

Let cool for a bit, then fire it all into a food processor and let 'er rip!  

Et Voilà...BACON JAM!!

Earlier in the morning I hit up Art-Is-In Bakery at the Kanata Farmer's Market and grabbed a Multigrain and Roasted Fennel baguette.  Toasted in in the oven for a couple minutes, then slammed on some of the bacon love. 

I grabbed my growler of Kichesippi Natural Blonde and hit the couch with the bacon jam to enjoy the rest of my relaxing birthday weekend...

CNE Greasy Madness

At age 32 I finally made it out to the Central Canada Exhibition in Toronto for the first time in my life.  Since I was used to the much smaller Ottawa Super Ex, the CNE proved to be a complete sensory overload....but one I am glad to have finally experienced.

Of course, my main focus of this trip would be the ridiculous food pavilion.  So here's a few pics of the madness...

My burger choices...

What I came to the CNE for!  Bacon cheeseburger w/fried egg on 2 Krispy Kreme donuts.

 As horrifying as that burger sounds, it was actually pretty damn good.  Messy, but good.  And yes, I would totally eat one again...but not before a a lengthy period of dieting!  The "Behemoth" burger advertized above was sandwiched between two grilled cheeses.  Unfortunately there was not enough room in my stomach to try that one.

Dessert choices...

Deep fried slushy!

For those wondering how deep frying drinks is possible, there's a simple answer.  They take your beverage of choice and mix it will batter...than dump it in balls into the fryer.  So no, it isn't full of slush or coke that explodes in your mouth, but simply flavoured dough,  It was honestly a lot less offensive that it looks and sounds.  And definitely not too sweet.

After dinner, I wandered the fair grounds.  As to be expected, there were tonnes of games, rides and vendors selling everything from bootleg DVD's to incense and ball caps.

In the vendors area I grabbed a few kangaroo pepperettes.  There was also camel summer sausage available, and I regret not buying any, however I was already starting to run low on my frivolous CNE money.  The pepperettes were nothing too exciting and for all I know they could have been beef and or pork. 

Thankfully I did have a couple extra bucks to grab a pickle on a stick!

Let's be honest...everything tastes better on a stick.







Next stop was to see the cute little animals.  The "Pig Mobile" greeted me at the farm building and for a minute I thought that the Food Truck Eats event had started a day early!

Bacon in training.

 With the evening winding down, my day wouldn't have been complete without one final greasy snack...

The Deep Fried Mac n' Cheese Curds was by far my favorite food at the CNE.

At almost 10pm, the line ups for food were just as big as ever. 

Overall I had a great time.  The food did not disappoint and the crowds were not so crazy that I wanted to leave immediately after getting there.  Definitely something that I think everyone should check out at some point.

And foodies...don't be afraid let yourself enjoy some wild, crazy, and unhealthy food every once and a while!!!

Food Truck Eats

My latest blog post of the Food Network Canada site for the show Eat St.

http://eatst.foodnetwork.ca/blog/kathys-food-truck-eats-review.html

Po' Nuts (Beast Restaurant) Maple Bacon Donut

I Heart Lamb

With my collection of random meats accumulating in the freezer, I figured it was time I got down to cooking...and experimenting with new ingredients and recipes!   I'm lucky enough to have a small farmers market set up every Saturday only a couple blocks away from my home, so I try to take advantage of this any chance I can get.  This week I picked up some "Red Russian" kale, yellow cantaloupe, and a chocolate croissant from Art-is-in Bakery.  (Mmmm...buttery goodness..)

However,  the item I was most excited about was the small lamb heart I purchased from the Canreg Station Farm and Pasture.

No bigger than the size of my fist, I was excited to prepare this little gem.

 I learned about butchering hearts from the king of offal, Chris Costentino.  

 

 

So, I cleaned up my little heart and prepped the rest of the ingredients for a tartare.

I decided on a side of brussel sprouts sauteed in butter and bacon.

Probably not the best choice, because those flavours are very strong and could overpower the delicate lamb, but the sprouts looked amazing in the store, and well...bacon makes everything better.











I minced the lamb heart and mixed it with olive oil, red wine vinegar, lemon zest, salt, hot peppers (from my garden...yay!) and parsley.  It turned out being a little spicier than I planned, but still good none the less. I toasted some multigrain baguette to  eat the tartare with, and tried to plate it up all pretty and such.

Here is the finished product....

So, I think it turned out pretty good...but then again, I'll eat anything.  Next time I would lay off the peppers a little and I would try to remember ALL the ingredients I bought.  (I had some capers I planned on using as well...)  I'll be back at the market next Saturday to buy another little heart, and will probably try a grilled preparation next.

For now...I need to figure out what to do with the other random meats in my freezer....

T&T Waterfront Night Market

Just 3 weeks after experiencing my first night market in Richmond BC, I was excited to learn of the second annual T&T Waterfront Night Market in Toronto, Ontario. I quickly altered my weekend plans and arranged to make quick trip down the 401 with a couple friends.

Night Markets are popular all over Asia were vendors sell everything from prepared food items to cell phone cases.  They have a more laid back and casual atmosphere than they daytime counterparts and are a popular evening hangout for all ages.  Many of these markets have sprung up in North American cities over the past few years in areas with a high Asian population.  In Ontario, there is also an annual night market in Markham every July called Night It Up! 

We arrived in Toronto and met up with a small group of family and friends and headed down to the parking lot of the T&T Supermarket on Cherry St. for the market.  Just as we arrived, the skies opened up and a torrential downpour began.  Already soaked to the bone, we huddled under a vendors tent until the storm could pass.  So, what better time to start eating!!

A very soggy start to the evening

We started off with some BBQ pork jerky type item, and I grabbed a mango lemonade...figured I might as well buy from the vendors that were allowing us to hide under their tents!










Next we had a little help from our friends wife who braved the storm to run out and get us some more snacks.  We all shared a big basket of popcorn chicken and eggs in tea.

I am generally not a big fan of hard boiled eggs, but never one to shy away from trying a new item, I dug right in.  It is prepared by gently cracking the shell all over as to allow the tea to permeate the egg.  The result was a sweet and earthy flavour and officially the only type of hard boiled egg I really like! 







When the rain finally stopped, we pounded back a pile of goat skewers before I decided to wander around on my own.  The market was quite large, taking up the entire T&T parking lot.  I figured there was probably the same amount of vendors as the Richmond Night Market, however they were more spread out.  Probably a good thing because the crowds really started to pour in once the rain stopped.  There was a stage at the north end, but due to the rain the shows were cancelled for the evening. 

Next I grabbed a pulled pork taco, which was less than exciting.  I love making Mexican/BBQ fusion food at home, so I was looking forward to the taco, but I really shouldn't have wasted my time.  It was just dried out pulled pork on a dried out corn tortilla with a couple picked onions on top.  There appeared to be no cilantro, pico, or anything else available as condiments.  Thankfully I only spent $2 on it.

I checked out the oyster omelettes being made.  They used these giant circular frying pans to make a bunch of omelettes at a time.  This is one item you should share with friends as it is absolutely huge!!

One big difference I quickly noticed between Toronto and Richmond's night markets was the amount of stinky tofu in Toronto.  The smell was at times overwhelming as there were at least 6 vendors selling this aromatic dish.  In Richmond there was only one vendor selling it and there were frying in somewhere in the back corner of their stand so the smell was not evident at all.  I tasted it at that time and it had quite a mild and enjoyable flavour.  I was looking forward to it in Toronto, but after smelling it for a couple hours I decided to pass this time.  I later learned that the smell of rotting organic matter is something that can stay with you for hours, if not days later.  I still recommend trying it, as you will honestly be pleasantly surprised....however, just eat it quick before the smell hits you!!

Next was my favorite of all the dishes I tried that evening....I giant steamed bun with beef bulgogi.  The bun was fresh and the meat perfectly cooked.  Cilantro, cucumber, and lots of fresh jalapenos topped it off perfectly!

Just as they had at the previous night market I attended, the BBQ squid was a very popular item.  It did not disappoint.  I could have eaten the squid and steamed bulgogi buns all night long...



Mmmm...legs.

Met  back up with my friends about an hour later and they shared some of their takoyaki.  I was pretty full, and the lines were getting huge, so I decided that I had eaten enough for now.  We grabbed a some huge pineapple drinks and gathered the rest of our crew.  With another storm looming over the CN tower only a couple miles away, we quickly grabbed a couple cabs and headed out to the comforts of a friends condo to warm up and (finally) dry off.  

Overall, the market was well worth the trip from Ottawa.  I enjoyed some new dishes and spent the evening with family and friends who are as passionate about food as I am.   Can't wait for next year!!