Hello!  I’m back from a nice week-and-a-bit long holiday.  We stayed in Ottawa and spent our days cooking, sledding, snowball-throwing, skating and playing some serious amounts of lego and trains.  All three of us got to spend time doing some of our favourite things which felt like a real luxury.  I even had an afternoon out by myself for a bit of peace and quiet.  Lovely.

I did a lot of baking with Alden – we made cookies, cinnamon buns, biscotti, bread and apple crisp.  He’d be beyond upset if he missed out on some dough action.

He is a mini master in the kitchen.  He is always ready to help, whether it’s taste-testing the cookie dough or making sauces with his Dad.

The individual servings of apple crisp in the mini Le Creuset dishes made this simple recipe seem pretty special.  I splurged before Christmas on the Scandinavian-esque tea towel.  A little touch of Nordic-chic for the table.

We made gingerbread men from Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar.  (We also did a modified version of their white chocolate and cranberry biscotti, but with chocolate chips and figs.  It was a hit in our house.)  Seriously, I love this cookbook.

The biscotti made our “tea time” a real occasion. I bought the boys a set of Ferrari espresso cups to use for snack time.  (The Ferrari on the cups looks very similar to Francesco from the Cars movie, so I *knew* they would be a hit.)  Alden loves them and he has made it clear that  I am not allowed to use these cups – they are strictly for the boys.  (I picked them up at Preston Hardware if you’re interested in getting a set.  They also have cappuccino sized cups.)

I treated myself to a new bike after Christmas and tarted it up with a big crocheted flower.  Hey, it’s my “social bike”.  While not food-related, I was pretty chuffed to have some new wheels.

The dish that I was looking forward to making most was a gravlax fish recipe.  It was a nice change from our usual fare of smoked salmon from the Whalesbone.  I picked up a couple of trout filets from Whalesbone and did a half recipe of this cure from Australian Gourmet Traveler.  It cured for 24 hours, but it could have done with less.  It ended up being a shade too salty and as you can see from the photo below, there were a few spots that were overdone and a bit chewy.

I could see this becoming a tradition.  The leftovers made for easy tapas-y lunches with bread and olives.  Or in the case below, caper berries!  They have all the flavour that you love about olives, but with no pit to remove.

I whipped together the cheese bread recipe from Artisan Breads Every Day.  We found it a little heavy on the onion, so I’ll tone that down next time or add some herbs to make it more savoury.  It went great with the fish.

We worked off some calories with a winter bike ride along Dow’s Lake. I’m not sure who loved being out and about more.

On New Year’s Eve, we spent the afternoon outside sledding at a local hill.  The husband roasted a duck and fried up some potatoes in the duck fat.  If you haven’t made potatoes using duck fat, get on that in 2012.  (You can get it at any good butcher.  Or just roast a duck and collect the drippings.)

I helped by assembling our collection of relishes and chutneys for the big meal.  The boy konked out mid-meal at the table leaving the remainder of the evening free for sipping Prosecco and enjoying a cheese plate.  We even watched a movie!  The second one we’ve seen in one week!  (In case you’re wondering, they were: Bill Cunningham New York and Our Idiot Brother.  I’d easily recommend watching both.)  We also watched the Dr. Who Christmas special, but I fell asleep halfway through.  It was overly sentimental.  I was looking forward to something a little sillier and light.

Dog-themed Prosecco – you can’t go wrong with a dog on the label.  Trust in the wiener dog.

Finally, for our New Year’s Day lunch, I whipped up a pretty basic risotto with some mushrooms and bacon.  We cracked open the new bottle of truffle oil and drizzled it on the top of our dishes.  It took the risotto from being tasty to beyond terrific.  Even Alden wanted in on the truffle action.

In 2012, I expect we’ll keep cooking, keep baking and keep trying to avoid stepping on lego in the middle of the night.  Easier said than done.

There’s a lot of activity shaking down in our neck of Ottawa these days and as much as I want to just focus on food writing and cooking, my inner community activist is being consumed by the completely foolish reconstruction plans of an arterial highway/main street not far from us.  Yes, highway and main street!  That’s Ottawa planning for you.

Sigh.

I’ve been putting together some items for Alden’s expanded “play kitchen 2011.”  Last year, the husband crafted a lovely tabletop cooktop for him out of spare Ikea shelves and now we’d like to build an oven and shelf unit for the cooktop to sit on.  My role was to find some new playfood to use.  As much as he’s loved all the crochet foods I made last year, I just didn’t have time to dedicate to crafting more food.  I relied on the internet and found some super cute Erzi and Haba playfood on the Baby Naturopathics website.

I really like the Haba felt noodles: fettucine, bow ties and ravioli.  They were sort of ridiculously priced for felt and my inner “crafty mom” is still feeling a bit guilty for not making my own.  If you are crafty, you could easily whip these up with some felt at home.  But alas, time was of the essence.

Some things, were just too amazing to resist.  The coffee beans in the little tin?  He is going to love putting those in the mini espresso maker for “coffee”.  The roast chicken with the removable legs?  I think he’s going to love roasting it up in his oven.

I looked at many play versions of coffee makers but they were so expensive!  The mini espresso maker is the perfect size and essential for the kid who likes playing with the “real” thing.

I also picked up some tea bags, sausages, fish filets, olive oil, balsamic vinegar and jam.

The clincher?  The mini chef hat.  I found this one at J.D. Adams in the Glebe (but they also have them at the Glebe Emporium).

I won’t lie, it’s been kind of a dream of ours to have a great lunch, sweets and coffee shop near our home. Ok, the dream is mostly my husband’s since he works from home and there’s only so many biscotti or polish donuts a person can eat before getting a little bored.

Pressed gourmet sandwich shop is slated to open on November 21 at 750 Gladstone Avenue (corner Gladstone and Arthur) and will feature:

• Fair trade coffee from Equator
• Lots of in-house cooking (and smoking!) and many local ingredients
• Vegan options
• Large space for live music
• Ample stroller parking
• “Kid’s menu” with Mac n’ Cheese, grilled cheese and all-natural hot dogs
• Lots of space to meet and gather
• Wifi

When we met last night, they were still working on sourcing their sweets and bread.  So far, they know it won’t be Art-is-in since they felt their business was too similar to their City Centre concept.  (My 2 personal cents: I don’t go to Art-is-in at the City Centre because it’s just not convenient to walk there from West Centretown, we don’t have a car to drive there and I haven’t bothered to figure out how to get there on a bike.  And I love their bread.  Ok.. rant over.)

Update: They’ve decided to go with ACE bakery ciabatta – it provides the right texture for the paninis.

They are planning to open early around 7:30 to catch morning commuters.  And will hopefully soon have their liquor licence for those after-work commuters and evening concerts.

Jeff, the owner, gave me a tour of the space last night.  Of all the cool things they were planning, the piece of equipment that really got Jeff talking the most was the smoker. I am convinced that by opening day, this machine will have moved into a prime viewing (and smelling) location.

He talked of brining and smoking pork belly, making brisket for chili and even smoking squash for vegetarian soups.  They’ll also be doing vegetable dishes like collard greens and braised red cabbage.  It’s great to see vegetables being featured.

They have done extensive renovations to turn the old fluorescent kebab shop into a cozy nook.  With the fluorescent lights gone, the walls and ceiling repainted and the addition of lovely wooden church pew seats from a local church, artwork, and ambient lighting – the space has really transformed into the kind of space to sit and relax.

While they may have had reservations about joining the Twitter thing, I have no doubt that they will find it teaming with local foodies waiting to retweet daily specials.

•  Pressed website
• Twitter
• Facebook

————
Update!  December 8, 2011

We’ve had several meals here now (with and without the small boy) – here are some of our favourites:

Latte

Panini with homemade pickled beans (totally delicious)

We eat a lot of meat at home, so it’s nice to have a break.  Their vegetarian chili is filling and perfect for winter.

—————————

Sending a child to school with food allergies is nerve wracking.  When we first enrolled at Kids and Company, we didn’t know the extent of our son’s allergies.  After his official diagnosis with a pediatric allergist, we had new forms to fill out, allergy management plans, Epipen instructions. Being new to the allergy world, the existence of “allergy management plans” from the school led me to believe that they understood how to manage allergies.  (Later, I would come to learn that this is actually a requirement from the Day Nurseries Act – article 36.1) At the time, the primary reason we chose Kids and Company was because they were the only centre accepting one-year olds within walking distance from our home.  The ability to walk to our daycare was essential since we do not own a car.  The centre appeared nice during the tour, we had heard they used Bekta for catering and it seemed like a wonderful match.

Catering woes

Shortly after enrolling, the centre’s catering company changed.   The new caterer was called Whole Green Kids.  In what will become a theme for this post, the new caterer seemed great.  They promised organic foods, quality meats, and an ability to cater to students with allergies.  It was like music to my ears. However, when presented with a release to sign that absolved Kids and Company of any responsibility over allergens in the catered food, I declined.  Warning bells went off in my mind.  We decided to pack our own lunches. And for good reason. A few months later, Whole Green Kids, was in the news for allegedly neglecting food safety standards and passing off food as organic and made from scratch when it was not the case.  Our trust in the catered food was shaken.  Even after a new caterer was brought in (and reviewed by parents) we still continued to pack lunches.

Let them eat eggs!  They need the omegas!

All parents were asked to review the new menu plans in May provided by the new caterer.  Even though we would not be using this service, I reviewed it faithfully.  I saw that there were two meals with egg-based dishes and asked if it was possible to rearrange the draft menu to serve eggs on the day that Alden didn’t attend school. (Eggs being one of our serious allergies.)  I made the mistake of adding in one of  our email conversations “I’m a bit nervous about his exposure to two egg-based meals on that day.” When the revised menu was circulated, the egg items were now spread over two days instead of one.  Neither of which was our “day off”. After this incident, I joined the Ottawa Anaphylaxis Support Group to ask for their advice on how to deal with the incident. Given the need to select a caterer immediately, the menu went ahead unchanged.  We sent Alden to school on “quiche day” and when I picked him up, his cheeks had broken out into two large red blotchy patches.  I knew right away that there was likely egg residue all over his classroom. Messages were left with the caterer to try and rearrange the menu (despite the fact that the caterer was in the same building and roughly 50 feet from the daycare), they suggested that Alden could eat at a separate table on egg-meal days if the menu could not be rearranged.  Eating alone was not part of our “strategy” nor do I think it’s an acceptable way to meet the Day Nurseries Act requirements. We ended up being successful in our request to serve egg dishes on our “day off”, but it took a lot of effort and disgruntled emails to come to that arrangement.

Eating alone

One of the “strategies” that we had asked for when it came to snacks and lunches, was that a caretaker be seated at the table.  Thanks to the centre’s webcam, I know that this was not always followed.  One day in July I logged on to see Alden seated at a separate table, alone.  And he sat there for a long long time.  No one talked to him, no one checked to see if he was ok.  (Again, screenshots saved for posterity.) The reason?  With new children transitioning into the room, there were not enough staff to deal with children not familiar with the routine.   Heartbreaking.  A not-quite-three year old eating alone is not an OK policy or attitude.

Birthday parties, popsicles and treats, oh my!

Being first time parents, we also didn’t realize the prevalence of the at-school birthday party.  Good grief, it was a revolving door of cupcakes.  The only advice given to parents was to not bring in items with nuts.  (Even without the allergy concern, the rampant cupcake treats seemed to counter the centre’s “philosophy” – I found it disturbing how often treats found their way into the classroom.) As newly inducted allergy parents, we understood that simply because a product isn’t called “Double Pecan Peanut Butter Cupcakes” that the item may not be nut-free.  (Most commercial bakeries cannot guarantee that their baked goods are not cross contaminated.  Homemade cupcakes are not any safer: ingredients purchased at bulk food stores are not considered safe, cocoa powder often has “may contain” warnings and the list goes on. When we raised our concerns and asked for a no-food rule, we were only able to negotiate with our centre to have parents give a 3-day notice if they planned to bring in food.  Parents “knew” to bring in nut-free items, but to our knowledge no one checked ingredients or asked if the goods were purchased at a nut-free bakery.  And often the “3-day notice” turned into the “day before notice.”  But it was better than nothing. For about a year, this solution worked fairly well with only a few incidents of surprise cupcakes.  And after significant lobbying, a food-free holiday party was arranged.  (No one seemed to mind. Even then, we still ended up at CHEO after Alden managed to get a small pompom wedged up his nose that required an Ear, Nose and Throat specialist to remove. Oh yeah, that.) When he moved from the toddler to the preschool room, the agreement no longer seemed to be in effect.

Surprise!  You get to be left out today!

One day in August, I logged into the classroom’s webcam and saw popsicles being handed out.  I panicked and called the daycare.  What are in those popsicles?  Are they giving one to Alden?  Why didn’t anyone tell me? They assured me that Alden would not be given a popsicle.  This was a temporary relief, but the issue of being left out of a special food treat stung.  Apparently, a parent had brought in the popsicles in the morning.  The teacher asked the Director if they could be handed out.  The Director agreed.  Instead of waiting until the next day or calling us to ask our permission, they chose exclusion.  My blood boils every time I see the image (screenshot saved for posterity) of that afternoon. He didn’t complain, so no one seemed to mind.  When I picked him up that day, the first thing he told me was “my friends were all licking ice cream”.  Heartbreaking.

Communication failtures with the head office

I realized that my requests were biggest in scope than our local centre, I was asking that the company rethink their (unwritten) policy on celebrations in the classroom. The first email I sent to them, elicited a response.  They agreed that food-free celebrations were preferred given the rise of allergies. Shortly after this email, a note was sent to all parents to communicate that non-food celebrations were “encouraged”. Don’t be shocked, this email did not work to resolve the issue. The second time I contacted the head office, I sent photos of Alden being excluded and requested that if a food-free celebration is not possible, there should be a minimum requirement to purchase treats from a true nut-free bakery. My email was then forwarded to the local director to deal with.   There was no response from head office of Kids and Company. In the meantime, I wrote a short note to tuck into his classmates’ cubbies to let them know that there was a child was severe allergies in the class and to let the teacher know if they were planning on bringing special treats.  I also noted some local nut-free bakeries they could contact. The Director approached me after this and assured me that they would send a reminder out on this issue, but at the time, the email system was down.  The note was never sent.  

Autumn 2011

After so many disappointments: the loss of a favourite teacher, the introduction of computer stations to the classroom, the never-ending circle-time programming and bullying children had turned our happy toddler into someone who hated going to school and stopped talking during the day.  It was too much. I researched other centres and withdrew from Kids and Company as soon as I found a space.  I swallowed the two-months of fees for not giving advance notice of our departure.  I don’t regret a penny of it.

Footnote:I had almost forgotten about these related posts from last year about birthday and holiday parties. So many good memories.

• December 2010 – Ho ho ho holiday party
• December 2010 – Holiday party aftermath

Over the weekend, we tidied up the last of the plants in the garden.  Out came the broccoli and the last row of carrots.  We’re now down to the last stalks of swiss chard, spinach and the hardy herbs.

Sunday afternoon was spent canning five pounds of tomatoes into tomato jam.   There’s probably less than three pounds of tomatoes left to ripen fully in the basement.  Who knows, I may get one more tomato sauce out of them.

It’s pretty amazing how many tomatoes grew in that one bed of tomato plants.  This year I planted a mix of Siberian and Tiny Tims.  The Siberians I would grow again, they ripened early, produced heavily, resisted blight and looked *just* like the packet picture.  They were a great tomato to grow and versatile in the kitchen: sliced in salads, roasted for tomato sauce, cooked into jam and dehydrated into “sundried” tomatoes.  They did it all.

The Tiny Tims were great in salads, but one or two plants is plenty.  I definitely didn’t need six.  Next year, I’m thinking of growing a couple funky heirloom varieties instead.

The broccoli I grew was Green Magic and it’s another keeper for next year.  It was packed with flavour and made the garden look like it was straight out of a Beatrix Potter story.

The carrots were a success this year.  Thanks to the raised beds and fluffier soil conditions, the carrots grew deep and straight.  Last year they were knobby and crooked.  Now I’m growing Peter Rabbit quality carrots.

Convince me that these are not the cutest carrots ever.  Eat your heart out Peter Rabbit.  Paws off these babies.

As for next year – I’m planning on more strawberries, a full bed of garlic and more hardy greens.  I’m a little worried already that my dream garden of 2012 is too grand for our little space.  And Alden, your little sandbox is awfully tempting to co-opt into a strawberry patch.

Yes, I’ve already started plotting out next year’s beds.  I’ve got a stack of quirky seed packages from Solana Seeds that I can’t wait to use next year.  Summer, I miss you already.

On Sunday, we were feeling adverturous.  Letting our cares flap in the breeze.  Booking the Vrtucar to go to the market AND pay for parking.  That’s the wild side for us.  Hey, it was cold.

Alden chose a purple cauliflower.  That’s the wild side for him.  Will he eat it?  Who knows.  He chose it very carefully.  Not the cauliflower in the front, but the second one in.  That’s the one.

Having driven to the market instead of biking, we were feeling particularly wimpy and prone to the cooler October temperatures.  Our usual stop for an apple cider wasn’t going to warm our quickly cooling toes.  Then I saw the Flatbread Pizza Company oven.  Without a lineup.

Let’s get a pizza!

I asked about the dough. There were no eggs or milk.  Can you leave the cheese off the top?  No problem.

Sold!  There we were – ordering our first pizza.

We went with the Italian sausage and onion pizza.  While the kid ended up just picking off the onions and meat to eat, we happily picked up the slack by devouring the crusts.

This was a solid win in the allergy-friendly dining out handbook.  Why didn’t we try this sooner?

The little dude still got his apple cider.

I took the best parts from Marisa’s (Food in Jars) and Bon appétit’s recipes for tomato jam and made the most deeeeeeelicious spread imaginable. Thank you both for the recipes.

I had seen recipes for tomato jam before, but it wasn’t until we had tomato jam with our appetizers at DiVino the other week that I realized exactly what we were missing.  And with several pounds of garden tomatoes ripening in our basement, I suddenly knew just what to do with them.

Out came the canning supplies: mini jars, stock pot, funnel and tongs.  Ready to go.

The greatest thing about the Food in Jars method is that it’s SO easy.  All you have to do is chop the tomatoes and toss the ingredients in a pot to cook away.  No blanching the tomatoes or removing seeds, everything goes in the pot.

I served my jam with bread and goat’s cheese and I’m not sure there is any better possible pairing.

Aren’t these little 1/2 cup size jars cute?  And my favourite part of the process?  Making the stickers for the lids.

Making a pumpkin pie

The older Alden gets, the more I realize that we are solidly in the “Granola Parent” category. As Halloween draws closer, not only are we preoccupied finding allergy-safe candy for the BIG day, but all of the other “week of” activities that seem to go along with major holidays these days.

Take for example our daycare, they’ll be doing a “trick or treating” activity on Friday the 28th. (Presumably, some children don’t attend on Mondays so they don’t want them to be “left out.”)   Then there will be the real Halloween on the 31^st.  AND to top off that candy train, I had a message that someone wants to bring in treats to Alden’s class the week of Halloween.

REALLY? Are our three year olds not getting enough candy after two trick or treating outings?

And this rant, this has nothing to do with food allergies.  This is about using basic common sense when teaching small children lessons about healthy eating habits.

And before anyone accuses me of being anti-sweets, I am not.  I just want to control when and how often sweets are consumed at this time.  Because right now, we are in the middle of a very anti-vegetable phase and  I can’t compete in a competition between carrots and candy.

There are enough birthday party celebrations held in-class without adding “just because” treats to that list.

And tonight, I’m treating the little guy to cupcakes.  Because he’s had a rough week at school and he’s been super keen to try new (healthy) foods.

This email arrived in my inbox today (note point #2 – ahem, it seems my push button issues are pushing someone’s buttons).  If you like to walk downtown and do it safely, please consider attending.  (Don’t forget to do your homework first.  Although, I am sure we can all think of many many more examples!)

Message is as follows:

Dear fellow pedestrians,

The City of Ottawa spends tens of millions of dollars a year on road building, but very little on dedicated pedestrian-specific projects. As announced earlier, I am hosting a meeting on pedestrian safety that will bring together pedestrian advocates, community representatives and residents who want to improve our city’s walking environment.

Diane Holmes’ “SIDEWALK SUMMIT”

Tuesday, November 8, 2011, 7-9 pm

Ottawa City Hall, Colonel By Room (second floor near Lisgar St. entrance)

110 Laurier Avenue West

At the meeting we will discuss the disconnect between what is promised in official planning documents (such as the Ottawa Pedestrian Plan) and what is spent in City budgets. We will also break out into groups to share our experiences and concerns about walking in Ottawa, to develop a priority list of pedestrian problems that need to be solved, and plan ways to make that happen.

As you walk around town between now and November 8th, consider the following topics and if possible please bring a list of 5 examples in each category.

1. General problems that apply city-wide (e.g. not enough money spent on building, or maintaining pedestrian linkages and routes)
2. Location-specific chronic problems in any part of the city (e.g. the light at the end of my street takes a long time to change after I press the crosswalk button)
3. Degradations—where conditions have recently gotten worse (e.g. new vehicular-priority advance turn signals, barricades to convenient street crossings, or the pathway gate at Preston and Albert that was recently locked)

Please pass along this invitation to anyone you think would be interested in improving conditions for pedestrians.

Sincerely,

Diane Holmes
Councillor, Somerset Ward
(613) 580-2484
Diane.Holmes@ottawa.ca
www.dianeholmes.ca

The greens in my garden had grown to Popeye-esque proportions and it was time to use them up.  So, on Saturday afternoon, I pulled up beets and hacked off the leaves to make beet green chips.  So easy.  So kid friendly.

Then on Sunday, it was showtime for the swiss chard.  Now, the little guy loves stuffed grape leaves from Raw Sugar, so I gambled that stuffed swiss chard would also be familiar enough to casually slide onto the dinner table without an upturned nose or a scowl.

And it almost worked.   Once he realized that they contained meat – MEAT! – he warmed up to the idea.  Although, I say that in the most lukewarm of ways.

Look at those little bundles... so cute.

Now, the rolls weren’t overly tedious to put together, but it’s a dish that’s best saved for the weekend when you have a bit of extra time.

Handy tip #1:  You’ll want to find some nice large swiss chard leaves with as few holes as possible.  Luckily, it’s the perfect time of year for finding swiss chard in the market if you’re not growing them yourself.

Handy tip #2: Don’t pick swiss chard wearing pajama pants on a Sunday morning when you live next to a church.  The raised eyebrows from passers-by had me believing that God frowns upon flannel snowflake prints.  Oh well.  Such is the life of the urban gardener.

(For the fashion record: I was wearing a normal fall raincoat over the jammies.  Nonetheless, the addition of slippers to the snowflake ensemble was likely the downfall.)

I followed this recipe for Bulghur and Beef-stuffed swiss chard from the Washington Post almost to a tee.  I made a slight modification to the herbs – tossing in extra parsley, oregano and lemon balm that I had gathered in my PJ outing.

As we tucked into our dinner, it struck me that without any thought or planning, most of our dinner was home/locally grown.

Home: chard, tomatoes, onions, herbs, homemade chicken stock
Ottawa: ground beef (Bearbrook Farm)
Canada: bulgur
Unknown: rice

We’ve come a long way from just being very mindful about shopping for local ingredients and reading the labels.  Now it’s part of how we cook.  Having a garden has trained us into the “use it or lose it” mentality.  If you have a CSA box, you’ll know the feeling.  If there’s anything that irks me more, it’s letting good food go to waste.  I believe some people refer to that as being Scottish.  Stereotypes aside, I don’t like wasting food.

And these swiss chard rolls?  They will be gobbled up before you know it.  No waste.