I have known about Community Supported Agriculture for years and have been a member of a CSA at times. Now there is a Community Supported Fishery.
Last year Guy Johnson started the Michelle Rose CSF. Now he is looking for people interested in taking shares for the 2012 season. I am very interested in the idea and I think I will sign up, though I have to OK that with the boss as the full share includes a lot of shrimp and prawns, things Sheila does not eat.
Gabe Epstein of the Gorge Tillicum Urban Farmers has organized a meeting for people locally to meet Guy Johnson.
The meeting will be Sunday March 4th at 5:30 pm at the Saanich Neighbourhood Place in Pearkes Arena. I will be there.
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Friday, January 27, 2012
Expansion of Urban Farmers in Victoria
In an email from Gave Epstein of the Gorge Tillicum Urban Farmers, I have found there are some other organizations like this in the region.
Urban farming is very much the flavour of the month, it concerns me how much it can be tied up with political agendas. For it to to work well it has embrace the growing of food and not the politics and economics of agriculture.
As those of you that read this blog know, I do try to grow some of my own food. Most people with single family homes have the space that they could be growing some of their own food. I think it is important for most people to feel some personal connection to their food and nothing is more personal than growing it. It is the linking of this to an anti-capitalist or anti-globalist agenda that will cause the movement to falter.
- HUFFS - Hillside Urban Farmers For Sustainability - I can not find any links for them but they will be at Seedy Saturday, as will the other groups as well.
- JUF - Jubilee Urban Farmers
- VWUF - Vic West Urban Farmers - I can not find any links to them either
Urban farming is very much the flavour of the month, it concerns me how much it can be tied up with political agendas. For it to to work well it has embrace the growing of food and not the politics and economics of agriculture.
As those of you that read this blog know, I do try to grow some of my own food. Most people with single family homes have the space that they could be growing some of their own food. I think it is important for most people to feel some personal connection to their food and nothing is more personal than growing it. It is the linking of this to an anti-capitalist or anti-globalist agenda that will cause the movement to falter.
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
The 10 Types of Foodies
Anna Brones wrote an interesting post at the Huff Post Canada call "The 10 Types of Foodies".
The types:
The types:
- Made it myself - Martha Stewart cooking
- The Organivore - all local, all organic
- The Europhile - all good thing come from Europe
- The One Upper
- The Snob - complains that everything is not good enough
- The Anti-Snob - rebels against the rest of the foodies
- The Avoider - avoids something or all of things like meat, dairy, wheat, corn, soy etc
- The Blogging Food Pornographer - I wish I could this, but it is not my style or ability
- The Bacon Lover - all bacon, all the time, and this is not Kevin Bacon
- The DIYer - if you read this blog, you know this is me.
My ex-wife alerted me to the posting and pointed out how I am the definition of the DIYer.
Senegalese Food In Victoria!
One of my complaints about Victoria is the very narrow set of food options we have available. It is getting better as time goes by but we are still limited. We may have Iraqi, Saudi and Afghani food, but we have no Russian, Brazilian or Malaysian food.
When it comes to African food we have only had three options to chose from, Ethiopian food, Zanzibarian food, or Morrocan food. All three are heavily influenced by the Arabic world and are closer to various Middle Eastern cuisines than sub-Saharan food.
We have nothing from most of the continent - no west African cuisine, no central African cuisine, and the closest thing we have to South African cuisine are the specialty goods you can buy at Aubergine Specialty Foods in Fernwood.
We now have Le Petit Dakar in one of the storefronts of the Old Crystal Pool building on Douglas. They offer Senegalese food.
I ran across it yesterday on my way from the Legislature to catch the bus back home. I had never noticed that they existed. The woman inside told me they have been open for four months now.
I had already had lunch and I was in a rush to get to my bus, so I had no time to stop for a meal. From what I could smell and see, the food looked very good. I had a chance to eat a lot of French west African cuisine in 1986 when I traveled to Togo, Niger and Burkina Faso. From what I could see, the food looked like what I had seen in Africa.
I did not have time to stop for a meal, but they were nice enough to offer me a free madeline.
The menu includes stews and ragouts as I would expect with a focus on the fish, meats, beans and vegetables I would also expect. Many of the meals are served on a bed of rice. When I traveled in west Africa I had a lot of the street food and it was all a bowl of rice with some sort of spicy savory stew on top. I really want to try the Mafe, Domoda, and Yassa au Poulet. I wonder how it will compare to my memory of sitting on a plank bench on the side of red dirt street in a place like Ouagadougou? One of the best meals I ever had my life was in small courtyard restaurant in the southeast part of the Niamey - it was a Yassa au Poulet that blew my mind.
I am going to try and go there ASAP.
When it comes to African food we have only had three options to chose from, Ethiopian food, Zanzibarian food, or Morrocan food. All three are heavily influenced by the Arabic world and are closer to various Middle Eastern cuisines than sub-Saharan food.
We have nothing from most of the continent - no west African cuisine, no central African cuisine, and the closest thing we have to South African cuisine are the specialty goods you can buy at Aubergine Specialty Foods in Fernwood.
We now have Le Petit Dakar in one of the storefronts of the Old Crystal Pool building on Douglas. They offer Senegalese food.
I ran across it yesterday on my way from the Legislature to catch the bus back home. I had never noticed that they existed. The woman inside told me they have been open for four months now.
I had already had lunch and I was in a rush to get to my bus, so I had no time to stop for a meal. From what I could smell and see, the food looked very good. I had a chance to eat a lot of French west African cuisine in 1986 when I traveled to Togo, Niger and Burkina Faso. From what I could see, the food looked like what I had seen in Africa.
I did not have time to stop for a meal, but they were nice enough to offer me a free madeline.
The menu includes stews and ragouts as I would expect with a focus on the fish, meats, beans and vegetables I would also expect. Many of the meals are served on a bed of rice. When I traveled in west Africa I had a lot of the street food and it was all a bowl of rice with some sort of spicy savory stew on top. I really want to try the Mafe, Domoda, and Yassa au Poulet. I wonder how it will compare to my memory of sitting on a plank bench on the side of red dirt street in a place like Ouagadougou? One of the best meals I ever had my life was in small courtyard restaurant in the southeast part of the Niamey - it was a Yassa au Poulet that blew my mind.
I am going to try and go there ASAP.
Monday, January 16, 2012
Salmon, cannelini beans, and squash - what do I make?
Thoughts that come to mind:
- A salmon/squash ravioli
- Some sort of casserole
- A bean salad
None of the ideas are inspiring me a the moment. I am interested in hearing what people think might be interesting
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
Learning more about processing raw chocolate
So it seems that it is more or less impossible for me to be able to grind the nibs fine enough to make chocolate at home. I may try one more time when I get some more beans from the Mexican House of Spice and see how fine I can grind them.
I found some suggestions on what can be done with raw or roasted chocolate nibs, though none of them on this page appeal to me.
The difficulty of grinding the nibs also explains to me why some small scale artisan chocolate makers end up with a slightly chalky product.
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
Some Restaurants I would like to go to in 2012
Three in Vancouver
L'Abattoir at 217 Carrall Street in Gastown.
Hawksworth at 801 W Georgia St
ensemble Tap at 990 Smithe Street
Five in Greater Victoria
Sooke Harbour House
AURA - 680 Montreal Street
Devour - 762 Broughton Street
Copper Rock Grill - Bear Mountain
Dunlop House - Camosun College Landsdowne
Two in Seattle
Agua Verde Cafe - 1303 NE Boat Street
Rovers - 2808 E Madison
One in Portland
The Beast
L'Abattoir at 217 Carrall Street in Gastown.
Hawksworth at 801 W Georgia St
ensemble Tap at 990 Smithe Street
Five in Greater Victoria
Sooke Harbour House
AURA - 680 Montreal Street
Devour - 762 Broughton Street
Copper Rock Grill - Bear Mountain
Dunlop House - Camosun College Landsdowne
Two in Seattle
Agua Verde Cafe - 1303 NE Boat Street
Rovers - 2808 E Madison
One in Portland
The Beast
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