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Category Archives: North America

Quebec City’s First-Ever FoodCamp: A Delicious and Inspiring Experience

Quebec City’s First-Ever FoodCamp: A Delicious and Inspiring Experience

Well, Quebec City has finally had its first major food event. Sure, there are a few tradeshows that take place every year, but we had yet to host a fully fledged conference with chefs, and demos, and tastings, and networking opportunities—and fun!

It was called FoodCamp Québec, and it all happened thanks to the determination of one of Québec’s foremost bloggers, Francis (Tranche de Pain). I truly admire people who stop wishing and start doing. I mean, I’ve been wishing for a conference to happen in Québec, like those I fly miles to attend, but truthfully, I never even thought of organizing one. Why not? Francis created the event he dreamed of attending (and he had never done anything like this before). I have to say, he and his team did a fantastic job. The events ran smoothly, the sessions were unique and interesting, the food was fantastic, and the crowd was delightful.

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On Being a Food Writer in 2012 (or what the IACP conference in New York City taught me)

On Being a Food Writer in 2012 (or what the IACP conference in New York City taught me)

A little over a week ago, I was sipping one last drink with Nikki in New York, feeling inspired and discouraged in equal measures. Over the course of the previous five days, during the International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP) Annual Conference, I had been fed with incredible amounts of information about the state of the food writing world. My head felt heavy and clouded and I wasn’t sure what to do with all that newly acquired knowledge. I felt contradictory emotions: I’d had the chance to see and hear (and sometimes meet) many successful authors and writers, so I felt a little light-headed, like a star struck teenager; but what these professionals had to share didn’t amount to such a rosy picture, which made me a little queasy. Like all young writers (by young, I mean in the early stages of their career), I feel confident one minute and discouraged the next; writing is what feels like I’ve always been meant to do, yet I can’t help but notice what a bad time I have chosen to take this turn in my career.

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A Classic Québécois Dish: Pouding chômeur à l’érable (Poor Man’s Maple Pudding)

A Classic Québécois Dish: Pouding chômeur à l’érable (Poor Man’s Maple Pudding)

When Easter comes, I usually don’t crave chocolate. To me, March and April equals maple season so over those two months, I crave maple products in all their delicious forms. Sugars, syrup, butter, taffy, I daydream of all the delicious desserts these precious sweet natural products can make. To be honest, I think we Québécois have 1% maple syrup running in our veins – or perhaps our mothers have weaned us on it. It’s widely known that aromas are closely linked to memories, and there is indeed no other aroma that intoxicates me as much as maple does. When I smell maple, I’m like a dog hunting its prey, I won’t let go until I find the delicious source.

Although it’s true that maple products are also made in New England, we Québécois tend to be very possessive of the art of harvesting maple sap and turning it into all sorts of dreamy products.

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A Chocolate and Pastry Tour in New York City {And a Signed Book Giveaway!}

A Chocolate and Pastry Tour in New York City {And a Signed Book Giveaway!}

If you’re following me on Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook, you know that I was in New York last week attending the International Association of Culinary Professionals’ Annual Conference. It was an amazing culinary, educational, and inspirational experience, which I still need to decant to assimilate. I will read the many pages of notes I jotted down over the weekend, and I promise to concoct a write-up that should honor the incredible experience it was.

In the meantime, I have to tell you about the Chocolate and Pastry Tour I chose as an optional activity on the day I arrived in New York. The IACP program provided over 20 different optional tours, all of which looked fantastic. But I was immediately drawn to the Chocolate and Pastry Tour when I saw that pastry chef and author of Les Petits Macarons, Kathryn Gordon, would be conducting it.

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A Classic Québécois Dish: Beef and Winter Vegetables "Bouilli"

A Classic Québécois Dish: Beef and Winter Vegetables "Bouilli"

It’s such a universal truth that it has become a cliché: cold, winter temperatures make one yearn for comforting dishes. As much as I love delicate salads, they are definitely not what I need to fuel up on after shoveling show for over an hour.

Last weekend, as I was getting my workout shoveling said snow, a family dish popped into my head: I wanted make a bouilli (“boiled”, literally), just like my mom used to make when I was a kid. Bouilli is a classic Québécois dish which is a close cousin to the French pot-au-feu. It is usually made with low-cost cuts of beef and winter vegetables like potatoes, carrots, turnip and cabbage, all of which are slowly cooked in a broth flavored with herbs.

Shoveling makes me hungry for hearty comfort food! After a snowstorm last week:

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On Cheese, Cured Meats and Chocolate: A Foodie Tour of Salt Lake City {Part 2 of 2}

On Cheese, Cured Meats and Chocolate: A Foodie Tour of Salt Lake City {Part 2 of 2}

The second half of the Foodie Tour led by Lindsey in Salt Lake City was a stop at Tony Caputo’s Market & Deli. Tony Caputo’s store {let’s call it TC from now on} is divided in half: on one side, you have fine cheeses, cured meats, chocolates, olive oils, imported products and freshly baked breads that infuse the store with deliciousness. On the other side, the deli offers some of the best sandwiches the city has to offer (I can attest to that – the Muffaletta {salami, ham, mortadella, cheese and spicy olive salad on a ciabatta roll} I had was finger-licking good!). And in the middle of all that, there’s a small open space where the store hosts local farmers and artisans to allow them to sell their products during the winter months.

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A Foodie Tour of Salt Lake City {Part 1 of 2}

A Foodie Tour of Salt Lake City {Part 1 of 2}

One of the great things about the Altitude Design Summit, which I attended recently in Salt Lake City, was that it featured activities suited for a wide range of interests, including food. Yay for me! Of course, I signed on to anything remotely food-related in an effort to fulfill the foodie as much as the designer side of me while attending the conference.

On the last day of Alt, a Foodie Tour was going to be led by food blogger Lindsey Johnson (of Café Johnsonia). I was very eager to discover what gourmandises Salt Lake City had to offer because, as the tour’s description put it, one wouldn’t necessarily picture SLC as a foodie paradise. Lindsey was also hosting a dinner on the night immediately before the conference started. Together with Jennifer Hoiyin (of Delightful Delicacies), they took on the formidable challenge of cooking dinner for 16 strangers at SLC’s Viking Cooking School.

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Memories of Nantucket / Lobster Mac & Cheese

Memories of Nantucket / Lobster Mac & Cheese

Just saying the word “Nantucket” makes me dreamy. I’m not sure why I’ve been infatuated with this little East coast island for so long; I can’t remember how or where I first heard of it, and I can’t remember anyone talking to me about this place. It seems to me that I’ve been in love with Nantucket since my teenage years, so I can’t really explain why it took me so long to visit.

Stopping by Nantucket on our way from Rhode Island to Cape Cod was the best move of our entire road trip. The only problem was that we didn’t stay long enough! Still, because the island is so small and it’s so easy to bicycle around it, we left with a sense that we had come to know the place well and with a deep longing to return for a week, at least.

As soon as we set foot in Nantucket’s small harbour at the very bottom of Main St., we were overwhelmed with the impression that we had just stepped onto a film set.

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Pork Love in Providence, RI

Pork Love in Providence, RI

As we left for our summer vacation on the East Coast, we planned on making the most of the sea’s bounty. It’s no secret that New England has some of the best seafood and fish the US has to offer, most of which we can only enjoy defrosted at home. We couldn’t pass up the opportunity of enjoying some of our favorite foods, fresh as we rarely get to enjoy them.

We started our trip in Providence, Rhode Island. I enlisted the help of two friends, Karen and David, residents of the area, to recommend great restaurants, markets and gourmet shops to visit. David’s expertise is evident through his blog, Eat Drink RI, which chronicles the state’s food news and events as well as the restaurant and bar scene. Karen, a food blogger and recipe developer, treated us to tons of suggestions for Rhode Island and Cape Cod as well.

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Dîner en blanc in Montreal

Dîner en blanc in Montreal

Last Thursday was Montreal’s third Dîner en blanc (Dinner in White), and it was the first time I had attended this impressive event. A couple of months ago, friends from Montreal invited E and me to take part in Le Dîner, and we accepted quickly, thinking it looked fun and a great excuse to dress up. A tradition started about 20 years ago in Paris, it’s a huge outdoor picnic held in a public (and picturesque) place in the city where thousands of people, dressed in white from head to toe, gather to eat, drink and be merry. Every year, the exact location of the event is kept secret until the very last minute, and the responsibility of gathering everyone at the same spot in an orderly manner falls into the hands of a hundred volunteers who have been trained and kept in the loop by the Dîner’s management.

Sounds fun?

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