Last year I made a trip to Banff fully intending to visit the Wild Flour Bakery Café after reading raves about it on Chowhound. I didn't manage to get there on that trip, but I am certainly glad we stopped in this year as it is something not to be missed. I'm a tough nut to crack when it comes to bakeries, and normally when people are raving I end up underwhelmed. (Yes, I mean you, Cobs.) After travelling Europe, nothing seems to live up to those standards.
Norm & Court both chose chocolate croissants and I had a cranberry white chocolate scone. Now, there's nothing I hate more than a stick of hard chocolate inside a croissant, which is why I almost never buy them in Canada. These, however, were filled with melty goodness, as was my scone. The sweet white chocolate was nicely balanced by tart fresh cranberries. These were huge too. We missed out on trying any of their breads on this trip, but they looked fabulous and I hope to try them on my next visit. Some people had mentioned that the prices were high, but I found them no higher than local overpriced (yes, I mean you again, Cobs) bakeries. When you factor in size + deliciousness, that = a good deal.
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Wild Flour (Banff)
Friday, May 15, 2009
Dutch Delicious
A great heading for this post, and a great name for a bakery; it was also the theme for my Mother's Day lunch. Dutch Delicious (near the traffic circle at 13232 118 Avenue) has become a family favourite. And I'm not saying this happened to me... but don't call the bakery at midnight assuming their voicemail will give the hours, because then the baker will pick up resulting in a pretty awkward situation.
Family meals are always a struggle, dealing with the different preferences of everyone. I decided to stick with sandwiches, but do them a little differently. My family is Danish so we're big on the open-face san
dwich, and I also love the breakfast spreads you see in the Netherlands (the picture to the left = best breakfast ever). I tried to combine the two, and put out a platter of different breads (whole wheat Dutch and light rye), deli meats (porchetta, capicolla, peppercorn turkey, and sausage), hard-boiled eggs, and cheeses (medium gouda and mozzarella) from Dutch Delicious, the Italian Centre Shop, and Sobey's. I set out little bowls with dijon and wholegrain mustards, and also had crudités with dip. For a Mother's Day drink I made Pimm's Cocktail filled with fruit (with a virgin version for Court made with strawberry juice & sparkling water). Basically, this was just a fancied-up version of our normal weekend lunches. For dessert I made Brown Sugar Cheesecake and Court brought over some of her Vanilla Cupcakes for those crazies who don't eat cheesecake.
Now, back to the bakery. They have a small deli and cheese section and the rest is breads, buns, cookies, and small pastries. They also have a cute little table where you can eat in if you like, and I saw a few people doing that when I was there at around 9:30 on Saturday morning. It's best to get there early, as the best picks are gone by lunchtime. They make delicious almond cookies and almond tarts - so delicious that I haven't branched out much from those. If you like ginger the ginger tarts are also very good. They also have a very large selection of imported grocery items from the Netherlands, including my favourite: chocolate sprinkles (chocoladehagel - as seen in the picture). I also buy my dutch rusks there (I'm addicted) as well as good pickled beets and a lot of other harder to find foods if you're interested in Dutch, Scandinavian, or German cuisine. I still don't know the hours, but I do know that they're closed on Sundays.
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Cheese Tasting From Paddy's
Paddy's Cheese Market used to be right across the street from me when I lived just off of Whyte ave. Just after I moved downtown, it moved to a small minimal area just west of downtown. Finally, once I had moved to St. Albert, I got a chance to finally visit this local retailer, and I realized what I had been missing the whole time. I had always assumed that specialty stores equated to very high prices, but really, the price is great, especially when you factor in the quality. I now regularly pop in to pick up some cheese. I love that you can get the amount that you want, as opposed to a huge chunk. It ensures that I don't end up spending money on cheese that will go bad before I can eat it.
For Christmas 2008, Brooke got us each "something by the month." My husband was getting cookies by the month from her, my father in law was getting cakes, and I was given cheese. It was an excellent idea, and while the baking kept up pretty well, I didn't end up getting cheese every month as expected. To make up for it though, Brooke decided to have me over one evening to do a cheese tasting to make up for the shortfall. I was thrilled!
I gave Brooke carte blanche on picking the cheeses, and with some help from the knowledgeable staff at Paddy's, we got a diverse assortment. Going counter clockwise starting from the left on the wooden fish plate, we got Appenzeller, Riopelle, Wensleydale, Pont Couvert, St. Paulin, and finally Pont L'evesque. We had a number of other food items to enjoy with the cheeses, including blackberries, dried apricots, almonds, pear chips (that Brooke baked just before I arrived, and tasted like pear candy), melba toast and french bread slices. As we went along, we added in a cured ham, some balsamic vinegar, honey, sundried tomatoes, vegemite and marmite, just to try some different combination.
We started with the Riopelle. It was the softest cheese in the bunch, and was like a creamier, slightly sour tasting brie. This cheese was one of both of our favorites due to it's texture. You can actually spread it onto bread like butter, and when you eat it, it is lovely to roll it around in your mouth. I loved it with the pear chips crumbled on top so that the slight sour taste of the cheese was contrasted with a delicious crispy sweetness.
Next up was the Pont L'evesque. It is similar to brie, but slightly more firm, and very very mild in taste and is not stinky at all. It was nice paired with the sweeter items such as the fruit and the honey. This is a safe choice for those that don't want a strange cheese.
Third we gave the St. Paulin a go. It reminded me of a cross between cheddar and gouda. It had a mid range firmness, and would be a good choice for sandwiches. It didn't pair all that well with fruit in my opinion, but it went nicely with the cured ham and the nuts.
Fourth up was the Pont Couvert. It was the other front runner of the evening for the best cheese of the bunch. It was a bit of a surprise. The rind looks very rough, and the colour gradient changes from the edge to the center. We expected it to be firmer, but the center was actually quite creamy. It tasted like a mild goat cheese or a very mild version of a stilton (seeing as stilton is quite strong). I loved this cheese with blackberries! I don't know why, but it was just a magical combination for me. It was so good, it almost ended the night for me as I was getting pretty full.
We followed that up with the Appenzeller. Brooke did not like this cheese at all, but I didn't mind it. It was like a stronger swiss cheese. It would probably be nice on a french onion soup. It was nice with nuts, as they toned it down a bit, and I had leftovers the next day melted on a tuna sandwich, which was tasty because both the cheese and the tuna were strong enough to hold their own. Beware of keeping this in the fridge as it is very stinky, and stinks up the place.
Our last cheese was the Wensleydale. It was very crumbly and difficult to eat in pieces. I expected it to have a strong, salty taste, like a feta, but it didn't at all. It was surprisingly mild, and I can't say I liked it much. I think it was the disconnect between the texture and the flavor. I expect mild cheeses to be creamy, and after some of the stronger cheeses, it just was not a stand out for me. Brooke didn't mind it and thought it might be nice in a salad.
Having a cheese tasting is a great way to spend an evening in. You can also have fun with wine pairings to spice it up a bit. The staff at Paddy's can be very helpful in putting together a variety of flavors and textures for you to experiment with, and new cheeses are a great way to create new recipes!
Monday, December 22, 2008
Italian Centre Shop - Can I Move In?
This Sunday I had some time to kill, so I drove on down to the Italian Centre Shop. My husband hates grocery shopping with me because I wander around slowly looking at everything - even things I have no intention of buying. The Italian Center magnifies this impulse for me. Even though it is only about six or seven aisles, I can very easily take 45 minutes to an hour doing my shopping, no problem.
Usually my prime reason for going is the deli. The deli is a magical place, with a huge variety or meats and cheeses, both local and imported, at very reasonable prices. Also, the turnover is high, especially on the weekends, so you don't have to worry quite as much that an unusual type of deli meat has been sitting there forever. Additionally, there are a number of delicacies, such as olives, marinated vegetables and seafood. It is a good thing for me to go on the weekend when it is busy enough that I have to take a number, so that I have an excuse to wander along and eye everything.
The deli isn't the only thing the Centre Shop has to offer though. It carries so many different and special items throughout the store that it would be a shame not to do a good shop there every time you go. They post news articles around in some areas, highlighting products of interest. Today I almost bought some mango sorbet based on the article posted beside it, even though it is freezing out. I decided to hold off until summer on that one, but there were numerous other treasures that were more practical purchases and did get made. The freezer section has frozen homemade ravioli in tons of different varieties, the jam section has jams of all types, not just raspberry and strawberry, but lingonberry, fig, and plum (used to make my duck glaze). You can get fresh ciabatta, all sorts of dried beans and lentils, European sodas, and chocolates (in case you love Milkas like I do!). The produce prices are very reasonable, and again, there are some different offerings like figs and shallots on a regular basis.Now that it is almost Christmas time, there is a section of suggested gift items, and I think a basket of food goodies would be a very nice gift for the foodie in your life. There was also a musician in store, and a taste test set up with little cups of crumbled Parmigiano-Reggiano with walnuts and honey - a delicious treat to tide me through my shopping.
The Italian Centre Shop is the kind of place a foodie can happily wander through all day long!
