Showing posts with label Food & Drink. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Food & Drink. Show all posts

 I am a firm believer that all holidays involving food are good holidays. So pancake day makes my list of holidays, obviously! Now normally I'm not a huge fan of pancakes. I often pass on that sort of 'sweet breakfast' in favour of eggier options. But pancake day is different. I have been known to hold pancake day dinners in honour of this important holiday.
Now there are a wide variety of pancake options. British pancakes are more like crepes (which seem more French to me but don't tell them). However, I have to go for North American style pancakes (I would have said Canadian style but lets be honest, you'd all be confused). This is because my pancake recipe is one of those family thing- Dad's World Famous Pancakes. All our family recipes that are made by my dad are always called 'Dad's World Famous X". Dad's World Famous Stew, Dad's World Famous Steak... and Dad's World Famous Pancakes.

 Now I'm sharing this recipe but if you are going to use Dad's World Famous Pancake recipe there are rules. It can be made thick or thin, big or small but they must be served with butter and maple syrup. No blueberries or other fruit. Chocolate chips, ice cream, whip cream are all out. This is recipe for pancake purists. And it has to be real maple syrup. Go out and buy some. You will thank me.
Dad's World Famous Pancakes

 1.5 cups flour
3 tsp baking powder 
1 tbs sugar
1 egg 
2-3 cup of milk 
1tbs melted buuter
canola oil
 
Mix the dry ingredients. Mix the wet ingredients in separate bowl except the 3rd cup of milk. Add the wet to dry mixing thoroughly. Add more milk to get the batter to the consistency desired. More milk means lighter thinner pancakes, too little milk makes the pancakes lumpy. Heat canola oil in fry pan, add about a wine glass full of batter. Cook until small bubbles have appeared, flip to cook the other side.

 Now go forth and cook pancakes! Spread the joy among the world!

It's really hard to talk about ethical living, (or just living for that matter) without talking about food. Food is a serious part of my life. I mean that I LOVE cooking and fresh produce and meat and veg, and pretty much live for farmers markets and the best ingredients I can get my hands on.


With no shortage of produce available just across the street, I started to wonder about the environmental and social impact of that long journey most veggies make to our super markets. most fresh produce (fruit and veg) travels about 2000km (1242mi) from field to plate. This means that when most of your food is grown, it is actually picked before it is ripe, and travels in huge containers filled with ripening agents so it will continue to ripen on its journey. This results in food being..well...less than the delicious stuff it should be. 

This is where Mama Earth Organics comes in.

MamaEarth connects you with amazing local Ontario farmers, bakeries, and food providers. The even better part is that they deliver it all right to your door. You can also check out which farmers MamaEarth works with and see how close your food really is. 

The Baskets

When you sign up, you get to choose what type of basket you get. 
  • Single - $27
  • Regular - $35
  • Family - $45
  • Large - $55
With two of us in the house we decided on the regular basket which they suggest is a good size for two people. When weighing the pros and cons of getting MamaEarth, the only con we could think of was that it at first seems a bit expensive; until we went over our regular grocery bill that is. We discovered that we regularly spend at least $35 a week on produce, and it normally isn't locally grown or organic so we decided it was well worth it. 

How It Works


You can get a good understanding of how the actual process works by checking out the website, but the general idea is that you get a basket (reusable tupperware container) filled with your order. Every week you put the basket outside on your delivery day (which is different depending on where you live) and it will be magically replaced with a new basket filled with goodies!

You can also customize your basket for $2, and add extras to your basket like eggs, cheese, or baked goods (I highly recommend the St. Urbain bagels). 

My Goodies This Week


This week was a great haul with lettuce from Norman Zehr in the Kawarthas, snap peas from Ted Eng in Zephyr and Japanese cucumbers from The New Farm. Knowing the names of the people who are producing your food is actually pretty cool. We also got Ontario beets, broccolette, kale, mango, bosc pears, tomatoes and zucchinis.  

Since getting MamaEarth Organics delivered I have definitely noticed myself eating a ton more vegetables since we make sure everything is eaten up before the next delivery arrives. 

Check our MamaEarth Organics and reinvigorate your diet with some amazing produce and support local farmers and food producers.

Local Farmers
About Mama Earth
How it Works

World Map image sourced from www.dnatraceback.com/
Sometimes you forget how amazing your own neighbourhood really is. You walk past the same things every day and forget to notice all the things and people right around you.

There are lots of ways you can strive to live a more ethically responsible consumer lifestyle. To me, a big part of that is about supporting your local economy. Toronto's East China Town is one of several China Towns in the city, and sort of the little brother of the much bigger China Town over at Spadina (definitely a future post). Located in the heart of Riverdale on the east end of Toronto, East China Town is filled with amazing markets, and restaurants stretching for a few short blocks.


The streets are always bustling with people, but Sundays are especially lively with people busily buying up flowers and veggies and delicious treats. This is by far, my favourite day to do my shopping.

Adrienne can confirm it really is the best!
There is no shortage of delicious places to grab a bite while in the area. Andrea's Gerrard Street Bakery is filled with cakes, pies, cookies and coffee to give you a good kick in the morning! All chocolate used in their baked goods is 100% organic and fair trade so you can feel good about indulging in some sugary treats!

The coffee used is Organic fair trade brewed coffee beans from Chocolol Chocolate Traders and it sure makes a mean cuppa' Joe! Along with being ethically minded in their coffee and chocolate, Andrea's Gerrard Street Bakery uses organic dry goods and focuses on 100km foods (sourcing most of their ingredients from local farms within 100km of Toronto). 
Seriously delicious sugary treats!
The real winner here though is the cheddar and chive scones, and the iced lattes sweetened with agave. The scones are incredibly crunchy on the outside, and use a slightly salty sharp cheddar.
After you grab a scone and a latte (or the sugary treat of your choice), it's time for some Sunday shopping!
The grocery stores on Gerrard street are filled with fresh produce and really great deals. Now, those deals come at a cost. Most of the produce is imported in large quantities from far away. A definite downside to shopping this type of market is the cost to local farmers,  food producers and the environment. Living in the city can be expensive and saving money on food is often difficult. Balancing cheaper groceries with other locally sourced goods (like meat, clothing or baked goods) can be a great way (and my preferred way) to find a balance that suites your wallet and your conscience.
Many days you can also find some local residents who sell home grown produce, herbs and spices from small sidewalk spaces. I highly recommend picking up some Holy Basil. It's not quite the same as your regular garden variety of basil, and you can tell by the longer skinnier leaves. I normally use it in Asian inspired dishes like fresh rolls, or my absolute favourite is a Thai style chicken stir-fry. Apparently there are also many medicinal properties to it as well! 
East China Town may be a little quieter than it's big west side brother, but it offers no shortage of great food, great deals and a lively atmosphere. The best part about living here though is all the friendly people. Once you show your face a few times, most people remember you. There isn't anything quite like walking into your favourite restaurant, and they know exactly what you will order (Pho House, I'm talking about you!).

Sometimes taking the time to really look at the neighbourhood around you lets you see new ways you can support your local economy and small businesses. You don't always have to spend lots to have a great adventure in the city, sometimes a stroll through the markets with an iced latte and doing some groceries makes the perfect Sunday afternoon! 

This one is cheating a bit, because I was able to swing a free pass, but there were people selling tickets for £5 so I'm counting it.

On Saturday, I went to the Foodies Festival in Clapham Commons. What is a Foodies Festival? Wasn't entirely sure myself, but basically its a bunch of food vendors, food trucks, local food companies where you can sample and buy deliciousness. Here are my top five favourites things from the festival.

1. The minute I entered it quickly became that foodie festival involved about 50% food and 50% alcohol. I think this tells us a lot about the British approach to food. As I'm rapidly learning sunny skies and event a hint of summer weather = Pimm's.

2. A booth all about french goat cheese? Score! Not only did you get to taste a lot of different goat cheese, they gave you wine to taste it with. These are my kind of people. I may have an unholy quantity of goat cheese in my fridge right now.

 3. Sausages... another British staple and star of the Foodie Festival. Sure I could have gone with a fried potatoes on a stick (yes this was a thing), but the amazing 'gourmet hot-dogs' was my option for lunch. I also had the rather shocking experience of finding out the bright yellow mustard container was full of Colman's mustard, not ball-park. This requires very different mustard rationing!


























4. For pure visual points, I would like to acknowledge the amazing racks of roasted meat, whole lambs, hogs and vast quatitites pulled porks. We seem to have gone meat crazy. But given it was sunday afternoon it does make for a rather appropriate Sunday roast lunch.

5. And finally, I can't believe the sheer number of people who are willing to queue up to get into a food festival. Seriously by the time we left the line went half way around the entire enclosure. Talk about enthusiasm.

 There are other foodie events going on this summer, soo if you're in the London area check out their webpage.