The Search on The Rock continues (Day 6)

Today is a special day, because it is taking the prize for Newfoundlands BEST meal. Home prepared and made by an official half Newfoundlander, and readily eaten by yours truly. Today we ate Moose. Newfoundland Moose? Not quite, but it is from Northern Maine; hunted and prepared by our fearless hostess.

The meat had been marinating in jar with tomato, onions and Moose juices (not quite like this specialty Newfoundland wine: http://www.aukislandwinery.com/page.php?id=1 ). It was prepared by simply simmering in a pot and adding rice.

It tasted kind of like beef-chicken: the best of both worlds. The meat was tender and juicy, and a nice welcome after a day of driving. I know this is the kind of fine dining I said I was sick and tired of, but sometimes a gal needs a break from deep fried foods and gravy. Tomorrow I will return to the artery clogging goodness, but tonight I feast!

Gluten Free: Yes!

Dairy Free: Yes!

Perfect Meal: Yes!

My Search for Newfoundlands Worst Meal (Part 2: Days 2 and 4)

The morning of day 2, we decided to do something crazy, hike the Copper Trail up Blomidon (lit. blow me down) Mountain. It took about 4 grueling hours and much encouragement and peer pressure to make it to the top. I mentioned before that they call Newfoundland "the rock". This trail lovingly shows that by having the last hour of the trail wind up a steep rock cliff that seems to never end. Finally our troupe made it and part of me wanted to collapse, but the rest of me anxiously anticipated the delicious, hard earned meal awaiting me at the bottom.

Pretty impressive, am I right?

What some of you may not know about me, is that I have very poor balance (I blame this on being tall), so getting down the mountain can often be just as difficult as getting up. Luckily, thanks to the 'side step' I made it down injury free and was ready for some Newfie style eatings! Our knowledgeable guides told us that we needed to call ahead and order from the 'chip stand', or we would have to wait forever. This already sounded exciting.We ordered a regular fries, onion rings, and fries with burger and gravy (a Newfoundland specialty).

The stand was about half an hour away from the mountain, my anticipation grew stronger, my stomach more growly . Fries are one of my biggest guilty pleasures and favourite all time foods (just earlier today I was asked if I had to pick one food to eat for the rest of my life what would it be? I answered, 'poutine').

The stand was mostly visible because of the lineup of cars parked on the street in front of the hut, and patrons were in and out of the little shop, mostly eating in or outside of their cars. Our guide went in to pick up the goodies and we waited anxiously outside. In what seemed like forever (around 2 minutes) our food came out and we began to eat. Onion rings first as our "appetizer". The rings were topped with paprika, which added a delectable flavor, and the breading was good (if not gluten free). What was probably most impressive was that the onion rings stayed together, and there was no separating of the onion and the breading. I will not pretend to be an onion ring expert, as this is the first time in several years I have eaten them, but I would still take it upon myself to name them the best in the country.

Next we moved onto the main course: fries. I took a bite of the plain fries first. Only lightly salted, and not too greasy tasting, it had the right combination of crispy outside and mushy, creamy potatoe-y inside. You can tell these are handmade from real potatoes. Satisfied with my taste testing, I moved on to the Newfie specialty: fries with burger and gravy. This kind of works like a poutine except instead of cheese curds there is ground beef. This actually turned out great for me, because I didn't have to attempt to 'eat around' the cheese as I normally do when sharing a poutine. The concoction was everything I could have asked for: heavy, salty, meaty, fatty. All the ingredients of fine Newfoundland cuisine!

I don't know if this will take the prize, after all, it was very tasty as well as heart-stopping, but we are on the track to success!

The Ultimate Tuna Sandwich

Days 3 and 4 were pretty uneventful food days, but I just want to take a moment to describe the lunch I made today. Peanut butter and Tuna sandwiches. I know you are having your doubts, my travel companions had their doubts too ...at first. The idea came from my aunt, who used to eat peanut butter and salmon sandwiches when she was younger. It never sounded appealing but I was always curious to try, so I made a sandwich for one of my travel companions. He gave me many funny looks (the thanks I get for preparing the meal!), but did not keel over, or even vomit after the sandwich, so I made some more for the rest of the crew! I may be biased, but I thought they were great. This isn't Newfoundland cuisine, per se, but I would highly recommend giving this a try! Especially with school house gluten free bread (the only brand I've tried that tastes anything like real bread).

Signing out, still on my search but feeling hopeful already!

My Search for Newfoundlands Worst Meal (Part 1: Day 1))

I don't know about you, but I'm sick and tired of good food everywhere. How is France or Italy supposed to hold any culinary appeal when globalization has brought fine dining all around the world. Now, I can eat creamy French food in Halifax, gourmet Japanese in Toronto, street vendors galore in Vancouver- and never have to leave my own country. But what happened to the days when I would only get some stale bread and cheese in the UK, or stringy beef and potatoes all along the northeastern coast of North America?

Newfoundland, also known as "the rock", has lacked access to many culinary tools due to the cold climate and rocky terrain. For years all Newfoundlander's could eat was salty fried Cod, and the occasional root vegetable.  But with advances in technology food is beginning to come to Newfoundland: green vegetables, fruits, delicious mints, and fine wines are all making their way to Newfoundlands shores. This may be great news for Newfoundlander's in search of better nutrition and variety, but not great for me, on a search for traditional, salty, fatty, grey, Newfoundland cuisine.

I have 10 days in Newfoundland to find my prize, I will report back with any mentionable news soon!

Day 1: A Failure. Had a BBQ with some friends, homemade burger patties with sauteed onions and mushrooms. Probably the best home made burgers I've ever had. Was not even privy to secret ingredient. Double fail.

Nocular Nachos

Just one week ago, if I had been asked about the best Nachos in Halifax, I would probably rattle off pubs like the Economy Shoe Shop or Rogue's Roost, but I have now lived to spin a different tale.

Most tortilla chips that exist outside authentic Mexican restaurant are a mix of corn flour and wheat flour and thus not gluten free. That is why I was pleasantly surprised to notice the little gluten free symbol next to the nachos after several plates had been ordered for the table. I had eaten lunch at the lower deck once before, and had not been overly impressed, so my expectations were pretty neutral. I had already eaten a big lunch so I was content to just order something light and pick at it for most of the evening, I had no need of an amazing meal, I was really only there to support my friend. However, as usually happens whenever I am in the near vicinity of food I began to get peckish, and by the time the nachos arrived I was ready to devour whatever was in front of me.

I picked up a chip with not much on it, (I was trying to avoid the cheese), scooped up some salsa, and took a bite. My first emotion was surprise- "holy moly"! These chippies were good. Much better than just your average tortilla chip. I grabbed the menu to learn more and saw these were cooked in basil oil, the secret to success?

The nachos were covered with the normal dressings, cheese, peppers, jalapenos, etc. They also had the brilliant idea to caramelize the onions before dumping them on top, giving a bit of a sweet kick to the plate. I began eating shyly, I was sharing the plate with 4 other friends, but soon the chips started to disappear much too soon and I began feeling a little frantic. In a moment of fateful luck, some of the other appy's started to come out at that time, and I was left to polish off the plate of nachos, complete with picking at the little pieces of pepper and tomato stuck on the wax paper on the bottom.

While my surprise at getting amazing food when I was expecting mediocre may have added to my delight, these nachos are definitely in the top 3 of the city, so before you go running to the Shoe Shop for your favourite bar side snack, give the Lower Deck a try.

Gluten Free: yes

Dairy Free: no (unless you are crafty enough to avoid the cheese)

Lower Deck: 1869 Lower Water Street
www.lowerdeck.ca

Lifesaving Lattes

Last weekend something horrible happened- I had to come into work on a Sunday. One could say it was my fault for slacking off most of the week, but I'm not here to point fingers, I'm here to relent on how depressing it is to have to drag yourself into the office on Sunday to try and hurriedly finish your work that will determine your legacy (it's my last week). As per usual, when things started to get really depressing I started getting hungry. I waited as long as I could but eventually I had to cave and go get lunch. Coburg Coffee is the closest cafe to my work, and being the cool hipster joint that it is, it is always filled with healthy and sensitive choices.

My first recommendation is not to go into Coburg too hungry, because I always get distracted by the book exchange shelf on the way to the counter. There is something about (free) books that I just cannot resist, and usually spend a good 20 minutes looking through the shelf to see if there are any keepers before I make my way to order.

I always have a hard time when there are so many gluten and dairy free options to choose from- There usually aren't very many options that suit my dietary needs, and I'm just not expecting the staggering weight of a food decision when I've committed to going gluten and dairy free. I was craving a green tea latte so I skipped the salads and went for a soy latte and Pakora, (which I would describe as a giant Indian style potato latke) probably the least healthy of all my options. I had not gone out drinking the night before, but it was Sunday morning so I felt like I deserved at least a bit of grease.

I smuggled the food back to my office so I could eat on a couch and catch up on some TV before I had to get back to work, sipping the latte as I quickly walked, desperate to get to my food. The green tea latte was as flavourful as ever, the best in the city, in my opinion. I usually find when I order tea lattes, they mostly taste like warm milk or syrup, but this one, made with real green tea finds the perfect combination of green tea flavour and creamy soy milk.

The pakora comes with a side of chutney or hummus, the chutney sounded more exotic so I went with that. It was perfectly greasy without the overwhelming breading or bacon grease that these dishes are usually fried in. It had gotten a little soggy on the bottom during my walk, but that did not effect the taste. The chutney gave it a little kick, and the pakora had a hint of spice mixed in with the potato, cauliflower and chickpea flours.

As my show ended I slowly made my way back to my desk to continue my work, anxiously awaiting my next meal.

Stats:

Gluten Free: yes!

Dairy Free: yes!

A Real Francais Lunch at Chez Tess

"we can go anywhere!"

"anywhere?!"

My roommate and I are horrible at making decisions, especially when it comes to food where there is so much at steak (pun intended). So when she ducked out of work to pick me up at the airport earlier today and we decided to stop for lunch, we began the usual "where do you wanna go?" , " I dunno, where do you wanna go?" routine that we so often get stuck in. Luckily for us, we had been planning the staff dinner for our office, and had gotten a few suggestions from the staff about good places to eat. We decided to give Chez Tess a try. From my experience, the North End of Halifax is filled with little dining gems, and we were already outside of the downtown core so it would be a convenient stop. After a little glitch with my inability to tell direction on a smart phone map, we found the place, looking Mediterranean and a little understated next to it's bright bakery neighbor. The interior had a bit of an Italian feel to me, which is strange, because it did not look like any restaurant I had ever been to in Italy, and I have never been to France for comparison, but my instincts began filling me with fear about a menu filled with pasta and pizza.

Fortunately, the main items on the menu were crepes, soups and sandwiches, and they even had Gluten free batter for their crepes! I ended up going with the mushroom salad because I was still full from my holiday meals, and we got the liquid gold tasting platter to start. This is unfortunately not as exciting as it sounds; it is a tasting of oils and vinegars for bread dipping. We had decided this was a special occasion (it's not everyday you get to duck out to a nice restaurant for lunch)and what better way to celebrate that then by ordering a 3 course meal? We got the blood orange olive oil and the fig vinegar. It came out pretty fast with some nice crusty bread (not gluten free, oops). We were both surprised at how much you could actually taste the flavours in the oil and vinegar, we ran out of bread but our waitress told us to keep the rest of the dips because we had some bread with our meals as well. This was turning into a not so light and healthy lunch, but what's a gal supposed to do when faced with such a culinary treat!

Usually, when I order a salad, I feel great about myself at first, and then in the impending moments leading up to the arrival of the food I begin regretting my decision; thoughts of bland lettuce, cold vegetables and over-dressed salads begin to cloud my thoughts and I almost wish I had the guts to ask to change my order (I never do). But on a few very rare occasions, I have actually been presently surprised at the arrival of my salad, and end up enjoying it like it was a plate full of big juicy steak. And luckily this was one of those times. The mushrooms and red peppers were warm and sauteed so that already alleviated some of my concerns. There was a good amount of dressing, and not an overcompensation of lettuce. Now, just having nothing wrong with a dish, may not seem like cause for joy, but as I prepare myself for the release of the upcoming Hobbit film I slowly begin to feel my Hobbit-like features return, and an intense love for the perfectly cooked mushroom is one of those such features.

We had already been eating for over an hour, so a little desert with some tea and coffee couldn't hurt anyone. We got the banana ice cream desert and sat for another hour, chatting, eating banana ice cream and sipping on green tea. By the time we eventually left, it was already after four- too late to go back into work! So we just went home, overly full and satisfied, in true french fashion.

Overall:

Gluten Free: If you have some self control

Dairy Free: Order without cheese

Tastiness: délicieux

www.cheztess.ca 

5697 Charles Street 







 

Market Adventures: Part 1

Foodie haven. Every Saturday morning the seaport is packed with locals, tourists and hipsters alike trying to squeeze their way through the crowds of the double level farmers market to get the freshest catch of the day, a slimy breakfast oyster, dark raw chocolate, marinated chicken skewers or apples; always so many apples.

North America is not kind to us Gluten free folk, but the farmers market sure is, and this Saturday I woke with a craving for a taco or Tostada. There is a great little Mexican place on the second floor of the market, squeezed in between a Greek and bakery stall. An array of green, red, brown and orange dips are displayed at the front of a table, with (gluten free) corn chips for sampling. Beautiful ceramic Spanish pieces line the shelves behind the counter, "all authentically made in Mexico" I am told. The menu features tacos, tostadas, burritos and enchiladas, all either gluten free or with gluten free options. I go for the Tostada, because I need my guacamole fix, and skip the cheese.

There are some people who love a messy meal. They finish eating epically with wing sauce all over their face, burger juice dripping down their shirts, sauce in places where no one is quite sure how it got there- I am not one of those people. I like the food to go to my stomach.

If you've never had a tostada, it is a crunchy corn tortilla topped with exciting things such as black bean paste, lettuce, guacamole, and sour cream. And while some would jump at this challenge I found a space at a table and tried my best to figure out how to get this thing in my belly.

HOW DO I GET YOU IN MY MOUTH!?

The plastic fork was no help, but with a little picking off the top, breaking the tortilla and eating it like chips and dip seemed to work out pretty well, only a few pieces of lettuce made it into my hair and a bit of guacamole made it's home on my nose. The mixture of crunchy chip and creamy black bean spread and guacamole would tempt me to go back for seconds, but I took control of myself to search for other munchies around the market.

Overall:

Gluten Free: yes!

Dairy Free: yes! (sans cheese and sour cream)

Tastiness: extremely

Having family from Poland, I am always drawn to the small Polish stand with rich looking pastries decorated with strawberries, kiwis and cream and homemade pirogi's. Unfortunately, all I see when I walk buy are hand fulls of gluten so I usually steer clear. But today was a special day. I hadn't been to the market in a while, and I had my camera with me so I could immortalize this moment forever and never have to go back again. All I wanted was one pirogi but they came in dozen or half dozen, and how was I supposed to say no now after I had made so many excuses to allow myself to eat them? With my gift for rationalizing I told myself I could bring a few home for my room mate. But once I took the first bite I knew I would eat them all.

look at all that delicious grease.

They reminded me of the best Pirogi's I've ever had, mixed with the potato blintzes my mom used to make when we were younger. The dough was not crispy, which was surprising at first, but I don't think I could ever go back to the pirogi's I thought I knew. The dough was a little chewy, this may throw some off, but loving the texture of raw meet and fish and cookie dough this was my perfect treat.

I paid the price the rest of the day with horrible stomach cramps, and I've still to determine if it was worth it, but they score high on the tastiness scale.

Overall:

Gluten Free: no

Dairy Free: possibly

Tastiness: absolute

The Halifax Seaport Farmers Market can be found at 1209 Marginal Rd. Halifax. It is open 7 days a week but has the most vendors Saturday mornings/early afternoons.