Category Mississauga

The 2nd Most Wonderful Time of the Year: Bread & Honey Festival

Just thought I’d share a few pics while I am waiting to take my crew of sleepy teenagers to the Rotary Pancake Breakfast. Our clan has made the Streetsville Founder’s Bread & Honey Festival a tradition since year one – that’s a lot of Hazel-led parades and pancake breakfasts. The Bread & Honey started when I was a kid; all of our Chatham cousins would come down for the weekend for one giant sleepover. We’ve carried on the tradition with my siblings’ children. We spend the whole weekend at the festival or wandering the streets of our happy village and we love it! It’s like a huge Streetsville reunion.

My brother used to start our B&H weekend with the phrase “Lock your windows, the carnies are in town!” and the kids love it when I continue his tradition (all in jest of course because the ‘carnies’ are kind and decent people). Missing a few faces and pay no mind to the lad on the right – he hates it when mom takes his photo…suck it up buttercup.

#menofsteel2016 #breadnhoney #breadandhoneyfestival2016

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The kids enjoy the carnival and every once in a while, Uncle Nagui tries to put on a brave face to join them on the rides. They would like to see the return of the Zipper, the Boat, and the Fireball….especially the Fireball, right Uncle Nagui?

Oh so pretty! #breadnhoney #iloveaparade #streetsvilleliving

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I thought the kids weren’t into the parade this year so we ate our breakfast in the garden, listening to the music from band after band marching along the street. It sounded like the best parade ever; we ran out and caught the tail end and vowed to never miss it again (sorry Hazel, it was a late night).

There are some great food trucks at the festival this year. These tacos were fantastic.

Saturday’s weather was perfect! Hopefully today will clear up but we are going down anyways. Happy Bread & Honey Festival Streetsville! Hope to see you down there today.

 

 

 

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Sweet Bliss: Le Delice Pastry Shop

Tucked away in a quiet corner of Lorne Park, Mississauga is a darling, French-inspired bakery: Le Délice Pastry Shop. It’s been there for 27 years. How did I not know about this?! Actually, my friend has been raving about it for quite some time. It is her neighborhood’s tried-and-trusted, go-to spot for desserts with wow factor; the Raspberry Clafouti is renowned at dinners in her neck of the woods.

She took me there for the first time yesterday. What took me so long?! I nibbled on samples of Pumpkin Cheesecake and Pecan Shortbread – sweet bliss! I came back with some photos to share with you and some pies and croissants for my family. So worth the trip.

Husband and wife team, LeRoy (pastry chef) and Lisa MacDonald, pour a lot of love into their business. And only the best ingredients: fresh whole eggs, sweet butter, 35% whipping cream, and the very best Belgian chocolate. Everything is handmade and beautiful. Thank goodness they seem so young and energetic. Let’s hope they continue for another 27 years.

Yesterday was the last day for pre-ordering from their Christmas menu. From now to Christmas choose from what is available behind their counter. They are trying hard to keep the selection plentiful but get there on the sooner side of now! Oh, it’s going to be a very Merry Christmas chez nous! Wishing you and your loved ones a Merry Christmas and a healthy and happy 2016.

Open Monday December 21st
Tuesday to Friday: 8 am to 6 pm
Saturday: 8 am to 5 pm

Le Délice Pastry Shop
(in the Centennial Plaza)
1150 Lorne Park Road
Mississauga, Ontario
L5H 3A5
905-278-9684
www.ledelicepastryshop.com

For more details, please visit their website or my instagram.

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Hubby’s Favourite Weekday Chicken: Curried Mustard Chicken

The say the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach but I’m not entirely certain of that. My husband comes from a family of great cooks. He, himself, survived a year of chef school. So I was downright nervous the first time I cooked for him, in that tiny kitchen of my upper duplex apartment in Little Burgundy, Montreal. My friend assured me her ‘foolproof’ recipe for chicken would cast him under my spell with the first bite (that Best of Bridge recipe with mustard, curry powder, honey, and butter). Would you believe I managed to blow the recipe? It was the worst chicken I have ever made! He ate every bite like a true gentleman and fell in love with me anyways.  I’ve created our own healthier version of Curried Mustard Chicken that he now adores. (Honey, this link is for you – a little trip down memory lane or should I say 2222 rue Coursol. I still love that little, white dormer kitchen window).

As easy as this recipe is, it is well worth searching out a few special ingredients. Based in Mississauga, Ontario, Arvinda’s makes artisanal, premium Indian spice blends, using Canadian grown spices whenever possible, like mustard seed and coriander. I love Arvinda’s Curry Powder; it is a rich, fragrant blend of spices – so fragrant that I often pop the lid just for a whiff. Definitely my favourite curry powder, outshining any others I have tried to date. Use Arvinda’s Curry Powder and not their Curry Masala for this recipe. You can find Arvinda’s finely crafted range of Indian spice blends in fine food stores throughout Ontario. Check their website for a store near you.

I really don’t like typical grocery store garlic salt. Get yourself a bottle of The Garlic Box Roasted Garlic & Sea Salt and bring your recipes up a notch. Made with roasted Ontario-grown garlic; finely crafted in Hensall, Ontario. Check their website for where to buy.

Use whatever chicken you prefer. We eat skinless; my husband prefers thighs, so I cook both thighs and breasts. For a treat, Burton Meats sells a beautiful, restaurant-style Chicken Suprême: a boneless chicken breast with the skin and upper portion of the wing bone attached. Gently force your fingers under the skin to rub a little of the sauce both under and over the skin – the end result will be incredibly moist and flavourful (you can choose to discard the skin after cooking). Check their website for two Mississauga retail locations.

Olive’s Curried Mustard Chicken
Serves 3 – double the recipe to serve 6

Sauce (makes 10 tablespoons – enough for 3 servings):
6 tablespoons Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon Arvinda’s Curry Powder (mild curry powder)
1 teaspoon Garlic Box Garlic Salt
1 teaspoon dried thyme
Freshly ground black pepper

Chicken:
3 chicken breasts or 6 chicken thighs or 3 Chicken Suprêmes

Instructions:

  1. Preheat oven to 375F. In a medium bowl, whisk sauce ingredients until thoroughly combined.
  2. Arrange chicken in a single, evenly-spaced layer on a parchment-lined, rimmed baking tray. Spread sauce thickly and evenly on all sides of chicken. I like to throw the lemon halves on the baking tray to caramelize while the chicken roasts. Bake until chicken is thoroughly cooked, about 35 to 40 minutes depending on what cut you use. Using tongs, carefully squeeze the lemon over the chicken (juice will be very hot).
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If My Pole is Missing…

…I’ve gone fishing.

Have you been to Real Canadian Superstore at Winston Churchill and Argentia, Mississauga lately? They have a huge live seafood and live fish counter. Steam your catch. Everything looks clean and lively. Over 15 varieties: clams, mussels, jumbo lobster, dungeness crab, snow crab, tilapia, barramundi, rainbow trout, catfish, striped bass, malpeque oysters, manila clams, little neck clams, geoduck clams.

Real Canadian Superstore Winston Churchill

Real Canadian Superstore – Winston Churchill Superstore
3050 Argentia Road
Mississauga, ON L5N 8E1
Telephone: 905-785-8928

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Local Heroes: Eden Food for Change Fresh Produce Boxes

Local heroes, Eden Food for Change, buy fresh produce directly from farmers and vendors at the Ontario Food Terminal and sell it at cost in our community. Their goal: make fresh fruits and vegetables more accessible and affordable to all socio-economic brackets.

Strong relationships with farmers and vendors (who often sell the same produce to local grocery stores) have made it possible for Eden Food for Change (EFFC) to buy in bulk at good prices. Weekly trips are made to the Ontario Food Terminal to fill the boxes that have been ordered the night before. Back at EFFC, volunteers separate the food out into individual boxes, deliver them weekly to several locations throughout our community, and sell them at cost. Two box sizes are available: $10/small and $20/large. From a $10 box, $9 covers the cost of the food and $1 covers the operation expenses. Any extra food goes to the food bank.

Christina Philips (Community Engagement Coordinator at EFFC) added, “All of the items for the Fresh Produce Box program are bought specifically for those who have ordered. However, our Warehouse Supervisor goes down to the Ontario Food Terminal later and asks for produce donations for our Food Bank.”

Click on the link to find out locations and pick up times throughout Mississauga. Follow the instructions and use the order form on this link to e-mail your order every week, before Thursday at 4:00 pm. Pick up your box on Fridays at the time scheduled for the location you chose.

I am so happy to hear that there is a location in the village of Streetsville, right in the party room of the apartment building at 4 Caroline Street. Fresh produce is back in the village and within reach of our seniors. Thank you, Eden Food for Change!

Website: edenffc.org/fresh-produce-box/
Questions: [email protected]

Eden Food for Change (formerly Eden Community Food Bank)
2-3185 Unity Drive
Mississauga, Ontario L5L 4L5
Monday – Friday 9 am – 5 pm
Phone: (905) 785-3651

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