Perhaps your veggies come from Village Foods, or Spud, or Good Earth. Maybe they come from an honour stand in your neighbourhood, like the one Sweet Rock Farm has. Perhaps you grow your own. . . but even if you do, can you resist growing some veggies in the middle of your dining room table? [...]
Filed in food,Gabriola Island 6 Comments so far
Gabriola nettles are up. Not all of them, but enough for a plentiful harvest nonetheless. I used to think nettles were only a spring thing, but here you can find a limited amount of nettle shoots through most of the winter, if you know where to look. What do you do with nettles? The ones [...]
Filed in food,Gabriola Island 18 Comments so far
I’m not a hunter, so I don’t usually read hunting-related articles. I’m a hiker, and the closest I get to hunting is wearing bright colours when it’s deer-hunting season on Gabriola. But this… this is an interesting perspective. From The Atlantic: Hunters Are People Too. Like many vegans and vegetarians, I abstained from animal-derived foods [...]
Filed in food,wildlife 5 Comments so far
You can bet that people who lived on Gabriola 100 years ago knew a lot about food storage that many of us don’t know. Now we have fridges, so it’s all easy. But maybe some of the food that’s in your fridge would fare better somewhere else, and maybe you don’t need an enormous energy-gobbling [...]
Filed in environment,food 2 Comments so far
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 [...]
Filed in food,Gabriola Island 3 Comments so far
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. [...]
Filed in food Comments Off
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 [...]
Filed in food,music 3 Comments so far
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 [...]
Filed in food Comments Off
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 [...]
Filed in assorted,food,Gabriola Island,mushrooms Comments Off
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 [...]
Filed in food Comments Off
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 [...]
Filed in First Nations,food One Response so far
I am not a cake decorator. But if I were, all my cakes would be cakes with teeth.
Filed in food 2 Comments so far
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.
Filed in food One Response so far
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 [...]
Filed in First Nations,food,history Comments Off
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.)
Filed in events,food,Gabriola Island Comments Off
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!
Filed in food Comments Off
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 [...]
Filed in food,Gabriola Island,insects Comments Off
