"A Year Round Farmers Market for Wolfville" story for Coastal Life magazine

--Monica Forrestall

My New York Times story on Halifax Farmer's Market August 14th, 2011

A photo I took on a busy Saturday in mid-June at the Seaport Halifax Farmer's Market.

I wrote a story for the New York Times on the new Seaport Halifax Farmer's Market.
Here's the link:
http://travel.nytimes.com/2011/08/14/travel/in-halifax-an-old-market-gets-a-new-home.html?ref=localfood

--Monica Forrestall

I've got a little whale caught in my teeth: From Tundra to Table

Never thought I'd hear myself saying that---until the Arctic Foraging dinner I went to at the James Beard Foundation last Saturday night. And during the appetizer reception hour I was offered Duet of Whale an egg dish dish with a side of whale Bacon bits and fried whale blubber. In twenty years of some pretty esoteric dining where I sometimes feel I've tasted everything (twice), whale was a first.

Before anyone dashes off comments about endangered mammals, let me explain the complicated journey this proffered whale meat had taken to get here. Once every two years a lottery is held for Inuit hunters, who had a historical tradition of whale hunting, and one chosen hunter is allowed to hunt and kill a whale. The conditions are rules are lengthy, one of which is that the whale meat MUST be shared with the entire village that the hunter belongs to.
A small portion of this meat was gifted to a man who is a self-described forager, Steven Cooper, who has lived in the far north since he was eight years old. He was invited to the Beard Foundation to help prepare Saturday's meal, and generously chose to share his gift of whale meat with the guests of the foundation. Considering the rarity of this ingredient, this generous gesture wasn't lost on me.

Duet of Whale, served on porcelain hors d'oeuvres spoons.

The dish above, The Duet of  Whale, Beluga and Bowhead whale with Davis Straight shrimp caviar, had an unusual texture, the whale was chewy  and the caviar was semi-hard texture. 

The other novelty ingredient for me, was Musk Ox, and having it served thinly sliced, 

frozen and lollipop-style. It is the traditional way to eat it, and the Ninuyet find it peculiar 

to eat it any other way.

Berber dusted musk ox cube with cilantro yoghurt and papaya paste.

Up in the dining room, my eyebrows went up a few more times, when we were served smoked musk ox tongues, then pickerel topped with whitefish caviar with Haida Gwaii herring roe 

and finally dandelion te'j ice cream. 

Everyone at the table couldn't get enough of the salty Baffin Island bread, a First Nations flatbread. The texture was a little like pound cake, moist and dense. 

I was really touched to have seen some of the thirty high school students who came down from Ontario, where they are studying in a culinary mentoring program with Canada Food Network's chef Finkelstein. They were working so hard, side by side, in the tiny kitchen of the Beard Foundation.

A recent graduate (right) and a current culinary student  from Ontario work side by side on a tray of Sunny side up quail egg, fried crouton, smoked whale bits with cherry tomato.

Chef Finklestein and some of the students from his culinary mentoring program. 

It's a wonderful thing when you can come away from a local event having genuinely learnt something about a different culture that you may never have the opportunity to experience. This introduction to some First Nations culinary traditions was done in a most honoring way, motivated by a desire

 to share information their fascinating culture.  

---Monica Forrestall

To Market, To Market in Annapolis Royal for Over Thirty Years: Feature story in April/May 2011 issue of Coastal Life Magazine

While I was in Nova Scotia last summer, I scouted out a lot of stories for the future. I did a roundup story on three new businesses in Bear River, but took a lot of photos of the Annapolis Royal Farmer's Market (where I am every Saturday). I got to write a feature on this remarkably successful market for the current April/May issue of Coastal Life magazine. (If you double click on each page, it magnifies the copy for easier reading.) Enjoy!

--Monica Forrestall

Freddie Brice Show at KS Art Gallery gets fantastic reviews in the New Yorker and the New York Times this week!

Bear by Freddie Brice.

            
An extraordinary show of black and white paintings by a then 70-year old Outsider artist gets rave reviews in the New Yorker magazine and the New York Times this week.

The New York Times review by critic Ken Johnson:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/16/arts/design/16galleries-004.html?ref=design

and the New Yorker review:
http://www.newyorker.com/arts/events/art/freddie-brice-ks-art

FREDDIE BRICE

paintings

March 27 - May 1, 2010

opening reception: Saturday, March 27,  6 - 8 pm

including the re-mastered video:

Freddie Brice Paints Two Paintings 1990

by Les LeVeque and Kerry Schuss

KS ART

73 Leonard Street

New York, NY 10013

212-219-9918

ksart@earthlink.net

http://www.kerryschuss.com/

--Monica Forrestall

Making organic swiss chocolate with a master candy maker at Durig Chocolatier in Lausanne

Decadent, delicious, delightful! On a recent trip to Switzerland I got to live out a Willie Wonka fantasy and learnt how to make molded chocolate candy in the famous kitchens of Lausanne's Durig Chocolatier side by side with the world famous chocolatier, Daniel Durig. Daniel, an artisinal chocolate-maker makes certified organic fair-trade chocolates. In his mini-lab, I got to see some of the best ingredients he insists on using, like the Criollos cocoa beans from South America. Daniel's large chocolate kitchen is side by side with his exquisitely pretty shop in Lausanne.

Step one was to choose the mold to use. I thought Max would appreciate the smiling crocodile, since reptiles are his favorite section of the Museum of Natural History back home.

Then using some liquified white chocolate, with a fine paint brush, I painted the inside details (claws, eyes) of a cheerful crocodile mold with white chocolate.

The pot of melted white chocolate with brushes I used.

Below: Criollos cocoa bean pods.

Next step, after we let the mold and white chocolate set in the fridge for a few minutes, was to fill the mold with chocolate. We had our choice of milk or dark. It was a heady extraordinary aroma of whirling warm chocolate coming from the two chocolate machines spinning side by side; milk on the left kept warmed to 27 degrees Celcius and dark chocolate on the right, which is maintained at 29 degrees.

Then we held the molds over a vibrating machine which helped to move the chocolate around in the mold and settle covering all the areas. 

Close up of croc getting made.

We did two "fill up" of the milk chocolate into the molds, with chilling time in the fridge between each filling. Then it was time to pop the molds open to see our handiwork.

Voila, a "delicieux crocodile cadeaux" for Max! 

Other chocolate molds of their best selling truffles in the chocolate factory, some empty, some with a coating of chocolate, waiting to be filled with delicious fillings of caramel or orange paste.

Below: some finished fish waiting to be packaged for the shop. They were so pretty, I bought one for my BF and another for BF hubby.

The pretty Durig Chocolatier shop, next to the candy making kitchens. 

Here's a link to his website where anyone can order from! 

http://www.durig.ch/ 

Finally, below,  Max enjoying his croc...immensely.

--Monica Forrestall

Switzerland--Way Beyond Fondue

It is very possible to spend several days in Switzerland, and not eat any fondue. Here is a sampling of some of the extraordinary dishes I got to try, while visiting Switzerland. Food glorious food.

Yes, this is a cheese dish, and one of the cheeses is soft and runny. It was all divine. 

                          
Scallops.

                             
Gotta love it when the waiter finishes off the caramelizing of top crust of your creme brulee
at the table, with a mini-flame torch.

                                           

Gazpacho and a cube of jellied beet atop puree of carrot.

In the Swiss wine region. 

All photography copyright: Monica Forrestall

Brew Meister Monica

I've drank my share of beer in my life. My first taste was when I was 7, and expressed curiosity when my uncle Mike Forrestall was drinking it, and he said "You want a taste?" I took a sip, wrinkled up my face in disgust, said "Ewwwwww" and didn't taste the stuff again...till high school.  For teens in Nova Scotia, it was the drink of choice: Alexander Keiths beer was brewed in my old home town. (Canadian beer on average has a higher alcohol content than US beer: Keiths is 5%.) And it was amazing how slack pubs were, back then about asking for ID. Me and my girlfriends, all 16 years old, had regular Friday nights at a bar a mile or so from our neighborhood.
But up till last week I'd never tried to make any. On my trip to Albuquerque, I visited Kelly's Brew Pub (an Albuquerque landmark)  on Route 66 to make a batch myself and learnt a lot. Love that the brewery is located in an old garage (below) The Old Jones Motor Company built in 1939. Lots of character, with old gas pumps out front, surrounded by tables and chairs.

Beer making central is down the hallway in the back. Here guests can sign on to make their own kegs, and it's where the in-house brew master makes beer for the restaurant. Today, he helped us make one of my favorite beers, Oatmeal Stout.
He pulled out the recipe, and we got started.
First step was measuring out all the grains. They are stored in big plastic bins and you scoop it out with a big scoop and then weigh it on a scale to make sure it's correct. Its very much a science, and too much of one grain will drastically effect the flavor.
(www.kellysbrewpub.com)

Scooping out some of the grains for Oatmeal Stout.

After measuring out all the grains, we poured it into a grinder (that looked pretty homemade). This isn't to pulverize the grains, just to open up the husk, the beer master explained, so they can absorb water and ferment. 

Then the ground grains are poured into the copper tanks to begin the process. I stirred a bit, to speed up the soaking process with a big stainless paddle (below).

We added two large plastic pitchers of syrup (left) and then let it cook. The whole process in-house takes an hour and a half. Then there is a two-week aging in keg period, which are kept in a chilled room in another building behind the brewery.

Then, it's either put on tap at the brewery (like my batch will be) or it's bottled up, labelled with labels that are custom printed for visiting beer meisters, and picked up. It's a popular thing apparently to do for corporate events and weddings. That would make a fun take away gift for a bachelor, or bachelorette party!

                                                                  Stirring the mash.

 

SEE JANE (& Monica) COOK: New Mexico Cooking class

     Monica (right) and cookbook author Jane Butel 

in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Got to meet & cook with a very famous New Mexican chef, Jane Butel, while I was in Albuquerque. If the name's not ringing a bell, Jane is credited with starting the Tex-Mex trend, and she published her first book on New Mexican and American Mexican food in the 1960's. She taught me how to make Sopaipillas, a disturbingly delicious fried bread recipe that originated in Albuquerque, 300 years ago. (I admit when she first said fried bread, my mind was reeling...FRIED FOOD!?! But this was worth the calories. Jane greeted me at the door of her beautiful adobe-style home, with her frantic 7-month old daschaund lapping our ankles. After giving me some of her fascinating history, I watched as Jane expertly mixed up a dough recipe all by hand (after removing some of her beautiful turquoise rings). I took copious notes, wanting to try this back home in New York. When Jane was rolling out the smaller amounts of dough on her granite counter, she used a small wooden mini roller, which was the perfect size for the amount of dough she was rolling out. 

After cutting the dough into quarters, Jane slid the 
pieces straight down (so the oil wouldn't splash) into a pre-heated TeFal deep fryer. Jane's kitchen, where she has been teaching cooking classes for many years, is a dream spot for any cook. It opens up onto a large casual dining area with large windows that face the jaw dropingly beautiful Sandia Peak (part of The Sangre De Cristo mountain range). Jane's kitchen has everything, from two red KitchenAid standmixers to a garland stove to massive cookbook storage shelves---and more specifically everything she needed to create the thousands of New mexican recipes that have gone into her 18 cookbooks. 

As a New Yorker with a small kitchen/limited space and as someone obsessed with kitchen tools, I was having serious gadget envy. 

Jane kindly arranged to have her publisher send me her latest book "Real Women eat Chiles". And of course I splurged and bought 4 bags of the amazing chili spices she makes: Chipotle Chile, Pequin Quebrado, Caribe Chile and New Mexico Red Chili. I can't wait to try some of these recipes out on my chili-loving husband Kerry. 

For more details on Jane's books, spices, cooking classes etc..check out her website below. She's living the spicy life www. janebutelcooking.com