While in BC I went to the launch party for Nota Bene wine at Black Hills vineyard in Oliver. Black Hills has been earning rave reviews for this Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc blend since their opening in 1996. It was one of the best wines I had while in BC and I would [...]

If you are traveling in Canada, these specialty gourmet food shops make it easy to find the best of what a province has to offer. In Montreal, Le Marché des Saveurs du Québec has over 7000 products all sourced from within Quebec and a wine shop of all Quebec made product where I purchased Pinnacle [...]

While visiting Vancouver this past weekend I received a press release for the hottest coffee spot on the west coast, 49th Parallel Café. They are carrying a new coffee, Devon Estate Selection 795 Arabica from Indian that is hand picked and chewed by monkeys. Coffee cherries are chewed and then stored for hours in a [...]

More on Carmelis’s goat cheese. Carmelis is a farmstead operation, they raise there own goats without hormones, milk everyday and make cheese everyday. The diversity of product they are making is impressive. They are producing creamy flavoured goat cheese; Camembert style and rind washed cheese; blue cheeses like the goatgonzola and piccolo; as well as [...]

When I was visiting the Okanagan, I had a chance to visit Ofri Barmor at Carmelis Goat Cheese farm. Her family raises goats and is making delicious goat cheeses that are a hit of the west coast. Everywhere I went chef’s were using Carmelis’s cheese and it was for sale all over Vancouver. Barmor and [...]

M&M Meat Shops with their annual barbecue fundraiser raised over $2 million for the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of Canada this past Saturday. Staff and thousands of volunteers at more than 465 M&M Meat Shops locations across Canada joined together to beat their own charity barbecue day record. To date M&M Meat Shops’ franchisees, customers [...]

My food find for the week is Poplar Grove’s Tiger Blue cheese. Gitta Sutherland is making this creamy blue at Poplar Grove Cheese in Penticton, BC. I visited her while in the Okanagan Valley last week and have posted pictures of her operation. I saw Tiger Blue all through the area as well as in [...]

Bocuse D’or is the original iron chef competition. Started in 1987, every two years international chefs from around the 24 countries are chosen to compete in Lyon for the coveted title. The chefs are chosen three years before the competition, have mentor chef to work with and an apprentice that trains with and assist the [...]

Spot Prawns have a six to eight week season starting in May on Canada’s west coast. The annual Spot Prawn Festival in Vancouver celebrates the local bounty of this fresh, sustainable, affordable and delicious alternative to frozen tiger or gulf shrimp. The festival helps to encourage the development of Vancouver’s day-boat fishery delivering high quality [...]