Category Canadian

The banner is hanging proudly over Queen Street, the rides are almost set up, and Streetsville is buzzing. Not just because this will be Hazel’s last year leading the parade as mayor (she inspires a standing ovation from me at every parade). But also because two of Toronto’s top ten gourmet food trucks will be rockin’ the Streetsville Bread and Honey Festival again this year, to gastronomical proportions.

These food trucks serve some seriously good eats and have a huge following. Toronto’s original mobile barbeque smokehouse, Hogtown Smoke, serves it up slow-cooked and smokin’ good using an on-board smoker.

How about sinking your teeth into the Brisket-Infused Burger: an organic Angus beef burger infused with brisket, topped with pulled pork, caramelized onions, roasted red peppers, Jack Daniels and BBQ sauce, three cheeses, bacon, lettuce, and tomato on a Cobb fresh-daily bun? Can you say that five times fast?

Or a Jacked Up Pulled Pork Grilled Cheese Sandwich:  Jack Daniels-infused pulled pork, orange and white cheddar, Monterey Jack cheese, beer braised onions, and red pepper on Cobb fresh-daily bread?  Want to see more? Check out Hogtown Smoke on YouTube or follow them on Facebook or Twitter.

A whole lotta love will be roamin’ into the festival on this truck. Mississauga’s own Rome’N Chariot serves classic Italian comfort food inspired by Nona’s recipes from Molise, Italy which have been passed down through generations.

How about Chicken Parmesan served on a soft Italian kaiser, smothered in homemade marinara sauce, sprinkled with freshly grated parmesan, and topped with mozzarella, sautéed sweet peppers, and caramelized onions?

Or Toasted Ravioli stuffed with ricotta and spinach, finished with Parmesan and served with a side of marinara sauce? Big on comfort, big on flavour….mamma mia! Want to see more? Check out Rome’N Chariot on YouTube, or follow them on Facebook or Twitter.

Check out the Bread and Honey website for a list of all the good eats at the festival this year…and don’t forget your slice of free bread and honey! Mmm, sweet!

The Streetsville Founders’ Bread and Honey Festival

Located at Streetsville Memorial Park/Vic Johnston Community Centre. Click here for map and information.

Friday June 6th, 2014 from 4:00 pm to 11:00 pm
Saturday June 7th from 10:00 am to 11:00 pm (Queen Street parade: 10:00 am to 12:00 pm)
Sunday June 8th from 10:00 am to 6:00 pm

Here is a sweet idea for a Mother’s Day gift: a cookbook written by a Canadian interior designer who had dreamed of owning her own bakery since she was six years old and finally took the leap. In 2007, Rosie Daykin opened up a nostalgic neighborhood bakery, Butter Baked Goods, in Vancouver.

Next thing Rosie knew, her gourmet marshmallows became famous. Now they are sold throughout North America and Japan. I found the cookbook and the marshmallows at Indigo.

The artwork in the cookbook is inspired by the bakery – pistachio and pink and so very pretty.

The recipes awaken childhood memories of sweeter times when favourite recipes were time-tested and baked from scratch. Rhubarb Almond Muffins, Graham Crackers, Butterscotch Walnut Bar, and Butter’s Classic White Cake with Butter’s Famous Butter Cream Frosting (tinted a pretty shade of pink) are on the top of my to-try list.

There are plenty of beautiful photos and step-by-step instructions, including the recipe and photo instructions for Butter’s Famous Marshmallows in flavours such as mint, raspberry, coffee, and cinnamon.

Butter Baked Goods is as delicious to look at as it will be to bake from. Maybe it will inspire Mom to follow her own dreams and do what she really loves; or at least bake up something really yummy. Happy Mother’s Day.

Butter Baked Goods by Rosie Daykin. Published by Appetite by Random House, 2013.

Behold Streetsville’s newest legend: Burger Legend. I haven’t been this excited about a burger joint since Streetsville’s first take-out (the now long gone Terry’s Burger House) first moved to town.

What makes Burger Legend burgers, well…legendary? Start with a trip to the butcher every single morning to buy fresh, whole AAA Canadian beef chuck; additive-free, preservative free, ground fresh daily by Burger Legend. Yes fresh beef, never frozen (they don’t even own a freezer). Add real (not processed), aged Canadian cheddar cheese. Top with huge strips of thick-cut, smoky/sweet, maple smoked bacon so flavourful that you have to fight off sneaky fingers. Put it on a lightly grilled, freshly baked sesame seed bun. Finally, a burger we can feel good about sinking our teeth into.

Behold the Classic Burger: 100 grams of 100% pure beef (no fillers), juicy and flavourful, spiced just right, nestled on a bed of mixed baby greens, blanketed with melted cheddar, topped with thickly sliced tomato, and Bawss sauce (a delicious mayonnaise-based crossover somewhere between Thousand Island dressing and barbeque sauce).

And this beauty, the Veggie Burger: a huge panko-crusted portobello mushroom, crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside, stuffed with cheddar cheese, on mixed baby greens, topped with more aged Canadian cheddar cheese, thickly sliced tomato, and Bawss sauce. Oh yeah, come home to Mama.

How to decide between the Classic and the Veggie? Order the Fusion Burger to get both on the same bun. Man, that’s gotta be good!

There are ten burgers on the menu, including the Poutine Burger, the North Beach (with guacamole) and the All Day Burger (with fried egg and maple smoked bacon). But your first visit should be all about the Great One (named after another legend, Wayne Gretzky): with aged Canadian cheddar, maple smoked bacon, mixed greens, tomatoes, and Bawss sauce.

Fries are freshly cut (remember they don’t own a freezer) Canadian russet potatoes, double-fried in peanut oil; available with gravy or as poutine. It’s going to take all my strength to try to resist the Maple Bacon Poutine.

Burger Legend started out as a gourmet food truck and has now laid roots in our village (aren’t we the lucky ones). Kiss the drive-thru junk burgers good-bye and say hello to real, fresh flavour. Welcome to the village Burger Legend!

Take-out or casual, quick bite, eat-in. Last time I was there, they were still waiting for their interac to be hooked up so bring cash just in case.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/BurgerLegendFT
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BurgerLegend

Okay, so I am not exactly Irish though I like to believe that everybody’s got a little Irish in them. When St. Patrick’s Day rolls around, here is how I love to celebrate it: Cuchulainn Crisps shared with good friends at Cuchulainn’s Irish Pub, in Streetsville. As the Irish saying goes, ‘it’s easy to halve the potato where there is love’.

These homemade Irish potato chips are a tasty tribute to the humble potato. Fresh potatoes are sliced just thick enough to have a little potato substance to them, fried up crisp, and then smothered with melted cheese and green onion. Add crumbled bacon and chopped fresh tomato, if you wish. Served with sour cream for dipping.

Now my friends have me hooked on Cuchulainn’s Hill o’Chips, a traditional Newfoundland dish known as CDG (chips, dressing, and gravy): French fries are topped with a Newfoundland-style bread dressing (stuffing) made with savoury (instead of sage) and smothered in beefy gravy. They say it is Newfoundland’s answer to poutine; I say it’s SDG (so darn good). Add chicken curry, if you like.

Cuchulainn’s is an authentic, family-owned and managed Irish pub, serving Irish whiskeys, scotches, a wide selection of draught beer, and Irish and British food. My nephew likes the Guinness Stew: beef braised in Guinness beer with potatoes, carrots, and onions and served with Irish soda bread. My son loves the Dublin Dip: a thinly sliced roast beef sandwich topped with onions, mushrooms, and mozzarella and served with beef jus for dipping.

Enjoy Irish dancers and live music on Monday March 17th 2014, from 3:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m. A five dollar donation to The Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of Canada (CCFC) will be accepted at the door. Check Cuchulainn’s events page for St. Patrick’s week celebrations.

It may not be spring yet but as the song goes “When Irish eyes are smiling…’tis like the morn in spring. In the lilt of Irish laughter, you can hear the angels sing.”¹ To all of my Irish friends, and the rest of us who want to be Irish for a day, Happy St. Patrick’s Day!