One of the best things about living on Gabriola is eggs: local eggs, available at road-side stands here and there all over the island. (And at some shops, like Harvest Thyme and Raven.) Before moving to Gabriola, we’d always had eggs from the supermarket, and figured that the ones that said organic or free range [...]
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The Executive Chef is away, which leads to all manner of trouble, inconvenience, and sorrow. But never mind, because I made steak au poivre for dinner, and it was awesome. Dessert was pot de crème au chocolat. If you are a looking for a chocolate recipe, I recommend this one. Modify as desired, of course. [...]
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Tis the season of serendipity**, apparently, and the universe is throwing all things turkey my way this week, so here’s a followup to my recent post about turkeys. I came across this vintage Christmas song today. I couldn’t find a free link to the original song from 1934 in its entirety, but here’s a modern [...]
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So did you have turkey for the holiday, whichever one you celebrated, and are you tired of the leftovers yet? We had a very simple meal featuring a smallish turkey but will be eating leftovers for a few days. Personally I’m very fond of turkey sandwiches, but you can only eat so many sandwiches. So [...]
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Did you buy three ready-to-cook turkeys today on Gabriola, and somehow lose them on the way home? I found them in the middle of North Road, still in their plastic bags. Seemed stupid to leave them there, so I’ve moved them to the side of the road in hopes that you’ll see this and know [...]
Filed in food,Gabriola Island 13 Comments so far
What is that pasta-like thing growing on the Gabriola forest floor? Doesn’t it look like a baby spaghetti plant? Well. It’s a fungus called clavaria vermicularis or clavaria fragilis. Common names include things like fairy fingers, which is pleasantly evocative. But don’t you think it looks like pasta? Before you conclude that I’m pasta-obsessed, you [...]
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You there, sir. Are you obese? Well. Here’s a wine-glass full of good news for you. From ABC News: Red Wine Ingredient Resveratrol Mimics Diet, Exercise in Obese Men. The red wine ingredient resveratrol mimicked the metabolic effects of dieting and exercising in obese men, a small study found. Although it didn’t lead to weight [...]
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It would be hard to ignore the presence of herring on Gabriola beaches, especially when the herring spawn. Now here’s an article on that important little fish from The Tyee: Behold! The Mighty Herring! It’s all about the herring, an anthropological researcher named Iain McKechnie said to me at a dinner party about a year [...]
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I am not a cake decorator. But if I were, all my cakes would be cakes with teeth.
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If you stop for coffee at Mad Rona’s, you’ll see lots of tempting baked things in the glass case. There are similar (but healthier, prob’ly) yummy snacks at Harvest Thyme, and probably at other Gabriola cafes as well. But this is one thing I bet you won’t see: desserts like these.
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A while ago I came across the term diseases of civilization: those diseases that were not present in aboriginal populations before the arrival of European settlers and the introduction of European foods like flour and sugar. That got me thinking about the traditional diet of BC’s coastal First Nations — a diet that included fish [...]
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Oh look, the Gabriola salmon barbecue signs are up. You like these fish signs better than those fish signs? The barbecue this year will be on Saturday, August 13th, by the way. (4-8pm, Gabriola Community Hall.)
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Our order of organic blueberries arrived today. In case yours did, too, I’ll remind you that this blueberry recipe is awesome. Beyond belief awesome!
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An article at The Atlantic talks about a study showing that grazing lands provide critical habitats for wild bees and other pollinators. The research was led by Berkeley environmental sciences professor Dr. Claire Kremen, among the world’s foremost pollinator authorities. The team evaluated the role of wild pollinators, concluding that they are essential to our [...]
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Hey, Gabriola gardeners and farmers. Do you grow corn? If so, you might be interested in this Science Daily article: Corn Yields With Perennial Cover Crop Are Equal to Traditional Farming. Soil quality, water quality, and possibly even farm profits will all benefit by using a perennial cover crop on corn fields that allows for [...]
You thought the bottled water industry was bad enough? A May 2010 article from the Independent suggests it could be even worse. Covering nearly three-quarters of the Earth’s surface to a depth of up to seven miles, it is one of the most abundant natural substances and free to anyone who cares to scoop it [...]
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This NYT article by science journalist Gary Taubes is fascinating. If you’ve ever tried to be thinner and failed at that, maybe it’s because the advice you followed was based on a big fat lie. If the members of the American medical establishment were to have a collective find-yourself-standing-naked-in-Times-Square-type nightmare, this might be it. They [...]
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You know I’m interested in Gabriola’s native plants, so that wild food festival in Nanaimo on Saturday was too tempting to resist. Off I went! There was a huge crowd, and the first surprise was the number of vendors selling nettle for three to five dollars per bag. At first this looked like a get [...]
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