Category Erin Mills, Meadowvale

…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 Superstore
3050 Argentia Road
Mississauga, ON L5N 8E1
Telephone: 905-785-8928

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

The cats are away so this mouse spent a busy afternoon testing recipes. After, I slipped out on to the patio (leaving my kitchen disaster behind me) and treated myself to a simple but sumptuous dinner: a Snow Crab Cake from Michael-Angelo’s grocery store. I like it cold on a bed of mixed greens with herbs, topped with chopped avocado, and squirted with lemon.

A dollop of cocktail sauce adds a classic, tangy bite. Amp up the wow factor even more with a hit of zingy cilantro pesto (Jamie Oliver’s Coriander and Cashew Pesto is brilliant) mixed with crème fraiche (both sold at Michael-Angelo’s) or mixed with creamy labneh (Middle Eastern strained yogurt that you can make yourself or purchase from Adonis).

Michael-Angelo’s Snow Crab Cakes are made in-store. A thin layer of light, crunchy breading embraces a generous mound of delicate, sweet crab flecked with minute pieces of sweet peppers and parsley.

Snow Crab Cakes are available year round in Michael-Angelo’s prepared food counter. The quality has been consistently great. The ladies behind the counter tell me that their Portuguese Cod Cakes are also delicious. Well done ladies!

Great news for the Erin Mills area! On Saturday June 8, a new farmers’ market will be opening across from Erin Mills Town Centre and Credit Valley Hospital. The Backyard Farm & Market at Erin Mills will be bringing chemical-free, fresh produce from local farmers and delicacies from local artisanal producers right to our own backyard. According to Garden Coach and Project Lead, Deanna Berry, the market has sought out only organic or chemical-free farmers and producers and will host 17 vendors to start.

Located on 1.5 acres of land, the site will also include an urban educational farm, boasting a straw bale vegetable micro-farm, herb spiral, and compost demonstration site.  Kids will enjoy fun food education programs, a story telling circle, a picnic area, and play spaces (including straw bale forts and a labyrinth)! Wow, that sounds like fun! Olive labyrinths!

The project was initiated by The Daniels Corporation, who has donated the land and remain active partners with The Cutting Veg and Garden Jane in a collaborative effort to increase urban agriculture in the community. Their hope is that the site will become a community food hub that will encourage area residents to “grow, learn and enjoy local and sustainably sourced food in a fun community space”.

Oh how happy I will be on Saturday mornings this summer, getting up early to visit the Streetsville Farmers’ Market and then The Backyard Farm & Market at Erin Mills.

The Backyard Farm & Market at Erin Mills

Every Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., June 8th to October 12th, 2013.

Located at the northeast corner of Eglinton Avenue West & Erin Mills Parkway, just outside of Streetsville.

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If you don’t know about Bistro Narra, you should. It is a gem of a restaurant in the Churchill Meadows community of Mississauga. Olive it because the chef’s classic European training shines through in the consistently delicious food. Olive it because I can enjoy this lovely dining experience at very reasonable prices. Owned and operated by Austrian-trained chef Franz Hochholdinger and his wife, Esther, it opened in December 2010 as a sister restaurant to the Apricot Tree Café.  I have been lucky enough to dine at Bistro Narra on several occasions recently.

The Chicken Crêpe (available at both restaurants) has long been a favourite of mine. Plump morsels of juicy chicken breasts, mushrooms, tender zucchini, and sweet peas in an exquisite cream sauce (subtly laced with tarragon) are wrapped up in a dainty crêpe and served with a mixed greens salad. Perfectly portioned and pleasingly priced at $11.00 at brunch.

My father said that his Norwegian Crêpe was excellent. Smoked Norwegian salmon, bocconcini cheese, purple onion and roasted peppers are wrapped in a crêpe and blanketed with a rosé dill sauce. $12 at brunch.

Our friend enjoyed the Narra Breakfast which was an elegantly plated healthy breakfast of delicious Gravad Lax (dill-cured salmon), poached eggs, citrus dressed spinach salad with strawberries, feta and almonds and toast at $8.50.

On another occasion, when I dug my fork into the two poached eggs that were perched atop peameal bacon and  English muffin halves, their sunny yokes spilled out happily over my plate and ran into the homemade Béarnaise sauce in a delicious embrace. The al dente asparagus and house frites were the perfect vehicle to deliver the yummy sauce to my lips. At $8.50 I would have to say the Narra Benedict is the one of the most delightful versions of Eggs Benedict in my little corner of the world.  Oh, and there was fresh fruit on the plate.

My son swooned when he ate his plate of flat iron steak cooked to perfection, bright green asparagus, homemade Hollandaise sauce and house frites all for the incredible price of $12 (sadly, it’s no longer on the menu). I love to see my son swoon.

Even the regular coffee comes to the table with a bit of a creamy head on it – a small detail that is enough to keep a coffee lovin’ gal coming back for more. A couple of my friends decided Bistro Narra was the perfect spot to commit to a monthly girlfriends’ brunch date. Bravo Chefs Franz and Esther Hochholdinger!

www.bistronarra.com

Bistro Narra is the sister restaurant of the Apricot Tree (opened in 1993).  The Apricot Tree is a casual café that serves European pastries, as well as delicious breakfast, lunch and dinner. Most people who have dined at the Apricot Tree quickly become loyal customers, including me!

Check their website for details on giveaways and special offers throughout the year, in celebration of its 20^th anniversary.

www.apricottreecafe.com