Fish with Cheese: The curse of the purists.

Anyone who has ever seen Scott Conant on Chopped will know that combining fish or seafood with cheese is a serious no-no. He will argue, whenever he's given the opportunity, that Italians never combine seafood with fish, and by extension, neither should you.

He is not the only one who takes this line of thinking. Many "foodies" will argue the same thing. I have customers who remind me of this every time I cook a seafood pasta. Recently on Iron Chef America, the talented Chuck Hughes was criticized for his lobster poutine because it was made with cheese curds.

When asked why, there are usually two defenses given to this position. The first goes something like this, "The cheese will hide the delicate taste of the fish." I would like to argue against this by saying that there is a huge spectrum of cheeses and a huge spectrum of fish. Yes, a dover sole would be drowned out with a heavy stilton, but the flavour of a grilled sardine can stand up to anything. My other argument is that we use many strong flavours when cooking fish, that are perfectly acceptable: Olives, capers, fennel, garlic, tomato.

The second defense is the old stand by: tradition. Italians never combine cheese with seafood. This may be partly true, but even the Italians have exceptions. A pizza with anchovies will still have mozzarella. Linguine with clams will often be served with a little shaved pecorino. I used to enjoy a tasty dish at Mona Lisa of shell pasta stuffed with shrimp and smothered with melted cheese.

But why must the cuisine of North America be slave to the traditions of a small European nation, even if it is a nation known for its food. The no cheese and seafood rule does not extend past the Italian borders. The culinary tradition of France does not have the same restrictions. Going back to Escofffier's Grand Cuisine, we see countless recipes of delicate fish combined with cheese and cheese sauces. Northern european culinary traditions will combine pickled or smoked fish with hard cheeses. In American tradition, we see such delicious classics as shrimp with cheesy grits.

North American cuisine, arguably on the forefront of cuisine today, is about moving beyond tradition. The best practitioners know the tradition, they know the rules, and they know where and when to break or bend them. Lobster mac and cheese? Why not? North american cuisine is about looking at tradition and spinning it with our own personal creativity.

But ultimately it is about taste. If you like cheese with seafood, go for it. enjoy. Sometimes I give in to the purists. I will serve a seafood pasta without cheese. Invariably, I get asked for a side of parmesan. Why? Caus regular people don't care about the rules, they like cheese on their pasta. Two of our best selling mussel dishes are with bacon and cheddar or blue cheese and mushroom. Ask my friend Tamara about the lobster grilled cheese I made her.

I could go on, there are so many ways the food purists are trying to beat the fun out of eating. Don't even get me started about sushi ginger! Your best bet is to cook from your heart. Learn from the past and have fun experimenting with new twists. Cooking has more to do with the senses then the intellect. And the next time one of these foodie snobs looks down their nose at you, grate a little extra parm on your seafood linguine, smile, and say with out any shame, "I like it this way"

Breakfast TV

I was on Breakfast TV this morning and this is what I made:

Cassoulet

The original pork and beans, this is traditional dish of france, and one of my favourites from the bistro. Don’t get to hung up on having all the right ingredients, think beans and meat, try to get a good balance of flavours. Beans absorb flavours and can taste flat if you are not paying attention. Taste for salt and pepper, acidity and sweetness, and make sure their is enough moisture to keep the cassoulet from being heavy.

For the Beans:

1 cup dry white beans, I like the texture of Great Northern Beans, but you can use navy beans or white kidney beans.

6 peppercorns

4 bay leaves

1 sprig fresh thyme

2 cloves

1 diced onion

1.Soak beans overnight.

2. drain and rinse beans, place in large heavy pot with lots of water. Add seasonings.

3.bring to a boil, then simmer until beans are tender but not mushy.

4. drain off any excess liquid.

5. or you can cheat and use canned beans, but you compromise both flavour and texture.

For cassoulet

1 onion, diced

1 clove garlic, chopped

4 slices of bacon, cut into 1 inch pieces

4 -2inch pieces of cooked pork belly. Feel free to substiute pork shoulder, hock, ham...

4 lamb sausages. feel free to substitute whatever sausage you like. Garlic sausage works.

4 legs duck confit.

2 cups cooked white beans

1 tomato, diced

2 cups chicken stock

salt and pepper

¼ cup bread crumbs

1 tbsp garlic butter

1. in heavy dutch oven sautee bacon. Add garlic and onions. sautee until onions are golden.
2. Add sausage, and brown on both sides. Add the rest of the meat. (I usually cook the duck leg separately to get that nice crispy skin)
3. Add beans, tomato, chicken stock. Bring to a boil. Check for seasoning.
4. combine breadcrumbs with garlic butter and cover the beans. Bake at 325 for 45 minutes.

Braised Beef Short Ribs

1 tbsp vegetable oil

12 meaty, english cut shortribs

1 large onion julienned

1 bottle of dark beer

2 cups chicken or beef stock

salt and pepper

1. Season short ribs with salt and pepper. In a heavy skillet, brown shortribs on all sides. Do this in batches, if you try to brown they won’t brown well. Transfer browned shortibs to a casserole dish or dutch oven. A slow cooker works as well.
2. After removing all the ribs add onions to the pan, lightly brown. Add beer to onions to deglaze the pan. Bring to a boil and reduce. Add stock and bring to a boil.
3. pour onion and stock mixture over short ribs. Cover ribs with tin foil, leave one corner uncovered to allow the steam to escape and reduce the sauce. Bake in a 275F oven for 6 hours (or in a slow cooker).
4. Let short ribs cool in the liquid. When the ribs are cold, you can remove the fat.
5. Reheat ribs in liquid, check seasoning for salt and pepper. Serve with mashed potatoes and your favourite veggie.

Pecha Kucha

They were sitting at the bar, talking with great excitement and passion. I asked them if they had just come from a concert. They answered, "Pecha Kucha". Then they explained.

Pecha Kucha is a gathering of creative people where creative people talk about some aspect of their craft or life that they feel might be interesting. The subject matter and format can be quite divers, but the event is governed by a strict structure. The participants show twenty slides and each slide is shown for only 20 seconds. Each presentation lasts only 400 seconds (6mins 40 secs). Pecha Kucha was invented in Japan as a way to get notoriously long winded architects to tighten up their presentations. It is now an international event, being hosted regularly in over 300 cities. Winnipeg does one four times each year. The statistic is that any night of the year, there is one happening somewhere.

So these guys sitting at the bar said, "Chef, you should do one!" I said sure, that sounds like fun. And thought nothing more of it. Until I received an email inviting me to present at the next Pecha Kucha. And so, last thursday night, I found myself standing on stage at the Park Theatre presenting 20 slides for 20 seconds each.

I talked about my creative process, how I cook, where I draw inspiration from. I was trying to get across the notion that cooking is partly about preserving an old tradition and partly about furthering that tradition with new ideas. I tried to focus on the sense that most of cooking is not about crazy creative explorations and fanciful presentations, but i is about the basics. It's chopping onions and peeling carrots. While I presented my slides, I cooked. I made a batch of Tequila mussels in my 6 minutes and 40 seconds. I felt it important that my slide show had a sense of smell component added to it. At the ends some of the guests enjoyed my mussels.

I was the last of twelve presenters. The presentations ran the gamut from a piece on architecture to solve humanitarian crises around the world, to a artist showing pictures from his sketch book. One guy presented a story about how he developed a popular iphone app. (Makes me want to develop my own, but I don't know what it would do.) Shawna Dempsey did a presentation on her art, it was almost a retrospective, with slides of her different work. Another gentleman presented about his relationship with a great aunt who he only got to know late in her life. One gentleman presented on a trip to new york and his visit to the world trade center the day before 9/11. He talked about how fate intervened and saved him from being in the towers the next day. One woman, presented photos that she wove into a short story. Some of the presentations had audience participation. One had you touch and hold onto a complete stranger, the other had you look deep into the eyes of your neighbour and say "you're fucked, and that's okay".

It was a great night. It was inspiring, informative and entertaining. I was honoured to be invited to present. I look forward to the next one, I will attend just to see the presentations. But I am already planning my next slide show. 20 recipes in 20 seconds each.

Thanks to the organizers of pecha kucha for inviting me and putting on the event. Thanks to Kiki May for taking photos and putting together the slides. Thanks to Eric at the Park for hosting the event. Thanks to Ruben for covering my shift on line so I could attend. And as always, thanks to Danielle, my lovely wife for her love and continuous support in all my crazy projects.

(I tried uploading the slide show, but it seemed to confuse blogger. I'll try again, later.

So I tried again, and then again. Does anyone know how to attach a video?)

but you can check out some pictures on flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/adrianjkshum/5191816719/in/photostream/

yes, the pumpkin ravioli is back, but come try the choucroute garnis

Okay, so this is how it played out. I kept the pumpkin ravioli. I am making and serving it exactly the same way I have made and sold it for the last few years. People are loving it, and we are selling lots of it.

Also, I brought the cassoulet back, the rainbow trout with fennel, the duck confit with cherries, the warm fennel salad and the gnudi with butternut squash, sage and brown butter. We also brought back the big double cut berkshire pork chop with spaetzle, braised red cabbage and caramelized apples.

For new things, I am doing foie gras with apples and toasted almonds. We have a tasty baked polenta dish (see my blog about San Francisco) and a dessert with apples, bourbon ice cream and bacon brittle. (Ditto) I also added a whole new sections called bouchées (ripped that name of from Frances in San Fran). Here you can get a little bowl of olives, some pickled eggs or some crispy fried white beans. Or, my favourite, a spiced pickled egg. We take Herman's Natures farm eggs and pickle them in a brine with cumin, coriander, fennel and hot chilies. Yum. It's like the big jar of pickled eggs you see at the garrick hotel or the woodbine, but we have 'kicked it up a notch'.

My favourite new dish is the Choucroute Garnis, which translates to big pile of pork with saurkraut. This is a classic bistro dish which originates in Alsace. "Why do you see this Alsatian dish on the menus of Paris Bistros?" I hear you asking. Well, let me tell you. A large number of the cooks at Paris restaurants orignally come for Alsace. Many left Alsace during the franco-prussian war and subsequent conflicts along that border. While learning the traditional paris dishes, they brought in some of their favourites from home. Choucroute Garnis is one of these dishes. I have wanted to put choucroute on the menu for as long as the bistro has been open. But I thought maybe it was too weird. I have run it for specials, but it never really did well. Maybe it was just too rustic to be considered a "special". So, this time round, while writing the menu, I decided I would try it out and see how it went. So far, it has been well recieved and I am serving lots of it. The idea, is that it is saurkraut cooked with "garnishes" which tend to be sausages and other pork products. Some versions might even have seven different sausages is it. We use knackwurst, which is basically a smoked bratwurst, smoked pork chops, fresh pork belly and smoky bacon. We serve this dish with mustard, bread and cornichons.

Other dishes from last year didn't make it back on the list. The one we get the most requests for is the bouef bourguignon. It's a great dish, but to be honest, I really only put it on the menu to capitalize on all the free publicity it got for Julie and Julia. But it is a dish I will use for dinner specials this season. In fact, I had a customer ask about it just yesterday. They have a reservation for Nov. 20th and were wondering if it was back on the menu. I told them no, but that I would run it for my dinner feature that night. Did you know that you can put in requests for dinner features? I have one good customer who always request veal chops when they come.

So anyway, the fall menu is written. It is tasty. And now, we right the fall/winter wine list. Any requests? I'll definitely put an Alsatian white on to go with the choucroute.

Choucroute Garnis

Step 1.

1 jar/can saurkraut. (If you know any hutterites ask them for some, they make the best)

1 medium onion, julienned

1 clove garlic, smashed

1/2 lb bacon cut into lardons (you can substitute the bacon for a smoked pork hock, or diced ham)

4 bay leaves

4 juniper berries

6-8 peppercorns

1-2 whole cloves

1 tsp mustard seed.

2 cups dry white wine. (riesling is the classic)

combine all the ingredients in a heavy pot or dutch oven. Simmer on a low burner or in a 300F oven for an hour. You can use this right away, or refrigerate to use later. We also use this on a a sandwich and in our new mussels with saurkraut, knackwurst and mustard. It's great on hot dogs, a little more interesting and less acidic than your standard jarred saurkraut.

Step 2.

choucroute from step 1

4 smoked (or fresh) pork chops

4 cubes of slow roasted pork belly

4 sausages.

16 potatoes

2 cups chicken stock

this is just a guideline. use as many different sausages and as much smoked or fresh pork products as you like. avoid overly lean cuts, they go against the spirit of the dish, and will get stringy from long cooking.

1. combine all ingredients in a heavy dutch oven or casserole.

2. bake at 300F for an hour.

3. serve with mustards, pickles and good hearty bread.

Pair this with a good german or alsace riesling or a tasty lager style beer.

where did we eat, and other helpful hints for travelling to san francisco and napa

-sit at the bar or kitchen counter whenever possible

-ask the staff where to go eat. the cooks and servers all know the new hot spots. All of our favourite food places came from a recommendation from restaurant staff.

-get to know the bartender at your hotel. tip well and be kind.

-the Bart from SFO to downtown San Fran is easy and cheap.

-The F-line has antique streetcars, on purpose.

-Homeless people make good tour guides

-San Francisco has the best buskers. One guy had a real drum kit. another an actual piano. Larry the bucket guy makes a drum kit out of buckets. he is awesome.

-the streetcar stops just long enough to perform a crack deal if you know who to talk to

-the map of san francisco is flat. the town isn't. what might look like a "nice little walk", isn't bring your sherpa

-california avenue goes straight up.

-dungeness crab is best served plain. it is the only food that isn't made better with butter. Every place down on fisherman's wharf serves it.

first meal: La Taqueria on Mission. I had cow face and beef tongue, D had pork carnitas and shrimp.

first meal in Napa: Rutherford Grill, one of our favourites on the whole trip. In the town of rutherford, on rutherford rd. Rutherford is between Yountville and St. Helena.

- everything in Napa shuts down at 9:00. One exception is Bouchon which serves until 11:00

For Breakfast in Napa we went to the Luna market, a little grocery store across from our hotel, the Rancho Caymus, in Rutherford, which catered to the mexican population that worked at the wineries. We had breakfast burritos with egg, beans potato and chorizo

Oakville grocery in Oakville is better than the more famous Dean and Deluca's in St. Helena. great place to grab a quick pic nic lunch if you are doing the wine tour.

Bistro Jeanty, is fun, busy and loud. The food riffs off bistro classics. Sit at the bar. They have about 7 different types of pastis. Great cocktail list.

Bouchon, Thomas Kellers's french bistro. Less expensive and far more casual than French Laundry, but not worth the money. Doesn't live up to the hype. Fussy small portions. Which is okay, but only if the flavours were bang on. Which they weren't. Duck confit was way to clovey and lacked that tasty crispy skin. Marinated veg salad was weird with crab beignets which were smaller than a tater tot with as much crab flavour.

Couldn't get in to either French Laundry or Ad Hoc (Thomas's family style restaurant). Everyone was saying the Redd was fabulous, but we never made it.

In the town of Napa we went to Angele, which was tasty. Artsy takes on bistro classics. Locavore philosophy. Good cocktail list. Nice big patio, we sat at the bar.

Morimoto: did not enjoy. The designer had fun with this space. Felt unwelcome and uncared for, so we didn't stick around to try the more interesting dishes on his expensive menu.

Carpe Diem, had some nice desserts, although the candied potato chip was more gimmick than anything. Nice people. The owner knew where Winnipeg was, he was a hockey fan.

Boonfly Cafe, on the old sonoma road attached to the Carneros Inn. Charming, quite beautiful. Really tasty food. Excellent coffee. Awesome burger, great BLT sandwhich with heirloom tomatoes. definitely worth the trip.

In San Francisco we stayed at the Palomar Hotel. Very nice. Clean, modern, right downtown. from 5 to 6 their was a free wine reception. Have a glass of wine, and order the crab cakes. made with dungeness crab and not much else. Don't you hate crab cakes that are all breading and filler with very little crab? Or the ones that where the crab is so overworked that it tastes like sand paper? These are not like those, these are barely held together, almost pure crab, and tasty. While you are here, ask the bartenders where to eat in town.

First night we went to the Slanted Door in the ferry building. Modern take on vietnamese food. We had some really tasty clams with pork belly and some summer rolls with lots of yummy shitake and greens and tasty things. I had the girliest cocktail ever. With raspberries and vodka and shaken up with an egg white. All pink and frothy, luckily I am secure in my masculinity.

then we walked halfway to Nopa. Straight up hill. then we called a cab for the last half of the walk. Nopa was fantastic! Busy, lively, loud. We arrived at 930 on a wednesday and it was packed. We would have to wait 45 mins for a table. Food was fresh and local, interesting cocktails. They had a wood oven and a wood grill in their open kitchen. Probably the best restaurant experience we had in San Fran.

Thursday we went for breakfast at Boulettes Larder in the Ferry Building. The chef was intense. half an hour before lunch, she didn't have the lunch menu written. D had scottish cut oatmeal. hates oatmeal, loved this, came with garnishes of walnut, flax, raisin and brown sugar in cute little boxes. I had the fluffiest scrambled eggs ever with spinach and black eyed peas cooked in roast pork drippings. so good.

at cafe mystique on castro we had hummus with spicy ground beef. really delicious Morrocan mint tea.

at cafe zuni we had the house cured anchovies and a salad with pancetta and parm. tasty.

Frances for dinner. On Noe in the castro. farmer's market shot of two kinds of melon and tequila. house blended house wines served by the ounce. the bring you a beaker and charge you for what you drink. tasty crab beignets. lamb served 3 ways with rapini, and the tastiest chicken roulade you've ever seen. voted top 10 new restaurants in the US by Bon Appetit and you can see why.

Brenda's for breakfast. French Creole spot in the heart of sketchy town. We arrive, we are told to write our names on the clip board outside. when our table is ready, the call us. We begin with a flight of beignets. plain, apple, dark chocolate and spicy crawfish. I had crawfish and adouille pot pie and D had shrimp and grits smothered in a tasty brown sauce. worth the wait.

lunch we had dim sum in china town. china town is super touristy. apparently there are less touristy mini china towns in San Fran, but we wanted to see the big one. bought a mah jong board. Does anyone know how to play mah jong? Don't go for dim sum at 2 in the afternoon. the food is still good but you miss the whole show. highlight? the shang hai soup dumplings.

started dinner with a braised beef shortrib at the hotel bar. our bartender tells us, "tonight, I'm driving" she chooses our snack and pairs wines with it. Thanks, Morgan.

then pie at Mission pie. I had a plum pie and Danielle had a mixed berry.

walking up mission, their are a bunch of people grilling "mission style" hot dogs. fried up with lots of onions on little flat top grills out of the sides of mini vans. I am sure they have their permits in order. I had guerilla guacamole made right their on the sidewalk.

went to a bar that was basically under the free way. Zeitgiest. Looks like any college/punk rock bar anywhere in the world, until you step outside. The bulk of the bar is in this empty lot, hemmed in with 12 foot fence and barbed wire. the lot is filled with rows of pic nic tables. the facilities are porta potties. everyone sits together. one woman was doing yoga. most of the beer is sold in pitchers. great vibe, tons of fun.

then to bar agricole. recomended by the chef of Boulette's Larder. the courtyard up front featured tables and a herb garden. the restaurant was very new with lots of wood and crazy ligth fixtures made out of plastic tubing. The place was seven weeks old and beautiful. I had another cocktail involving an egg white, but at least it wasn't pink. We were really tired, so I don't remember all the dishes, but we had sardine roll mops and a dish with three kinds of radish and lardo.

tired and full, we still grab a street crepe from a vendor across the street. Danielle falls asleep with the crepe on her pillow.

saturday is ferry building farmer's market. We start with breakfast at blue bottle coffee. the individually drip each cup. Danielle had a caramelized belgian waffle, and I had a coffee cake that involved guiness and caraway.

the market is incredible. fresh dates, walnuts, pomegranates, limes, heirloom tomatoes everything you could possible want. oysters, fresh lamb, cheeses, cured meats, jams, juices... we ate "korean tacos" which was nori filled with grilled pork belly and yummy sauces.

we had salumi cones at boccalone. I bought a tasty salted pig parts t-shirt. we bought N'duja, guaciale and wild fennel and orange salami to bring back with us.

Cow Girl Creamery was beautiful we had a very enthusiastic cheese boy. we told him we wanted only California cheeses. we got about four from the Girl Creamery and about ten others. everything from a fresh chevre, to this stinky cheese made like a gouda, but kept soft. loved the story of the dry jack cheese. exclusive to California, this cheese was invented when during th war the local italian community couldn't import their prized parmagianno, so they asked the local cheese makers to dry and age their monterey jack to the consistency of parm. the dust it in cocoa.

rented bikes and biked down to fisherman's wharf. it was fleet week and their was a blue angels air show, so it was crazy. wall to wall people. so much fun.

we had dungeness crab at the blue mermaid. i had a big frosty glass of anchor steam ale. Dungeness crab is best eaten plain. we experimented. it is the only food that is not made better with butter. butter detracts from the sweet flavour of the meat.

not done yet, we had these delicious grilled chicken skewers from a street vendor. they were done with some sort of teriaki sauce.

that night we celebrated our bartender's victory at the bar tending competition by enjoying her lavender cocktail

then a cab to cosentino's In Canto. Nice spot, we sat in the lounge with a very friendly, career server. D ordered the with a poached egg and shaved cured tuna heart. I had the blood pappardelle with pork trotters and foie gras. I think we had dessert, i think mine was a goat cheese cheesecake, and Danielle's was a chocolate mousse, but its all a blur now.

sunday, we must return home. we have breakfast at thai place in the airport. really tasty soup. even the airport food was good! lunch at the ihop in the vancouver airport, not so much.

so, if you go to san francisco, eat small amounts often. you won't be disappointed. we ate six or seven meals a day. some were better than others, but we didn't have one bad bite of food the spaghetinni whole time we were there.

now, planning our next culinary trip. Chicago? New York? New Orleans? Italy?

we might just have to settle for the Canad Inns in Grand forks.

What I like in a restaurant

We walk in, sit at the bar. The bartender asks you want you want to drink and where you are from. He pours Danielle a glass of wine, and me a pastis with a side of water. It's a french bistro so I feel the need to drink pastis. I point to the two most expensive on the list and ask him which one is best. He recommends the cheapest one and says it is his favourite. We scooch over a spot to let two more join us in this busy, yet cosy spot. The bartender cracks a few jokes. When he discovers we own a french bistro in Canada, he starts speaking in French to us. He knows about three words, but is feeling pretty proud of them. We order an app, puy lentils and pork belly with duck confit. We contemplate a second app, but he warns us that it is a rich dish and maybe we should just start there. We are there because we have a 9:30 reso down the street and it is only 8:30. By the time it is time to leave, we contemplating cancelling our reso and staying at Bistro Jeanty. No, we need to go to Bouchon.

The next night, we walk into Morimoto. The Iron Chef has a new spot in Napa. The woman at the door greets us with a warm smile and seats us at the bar in a very impressive, large room. Lights clearly designed just for this space, over sized yellow wing backs, grey and steel, a gleaming stainless kitchen. So we sit at the bar, and wait. The bartender is busy talking to a couple that were clearly hipper than we were. When asked, he gave us a drink menu. He makes the wrong drink for me, then replaces it. Danielle orders a gimlet, which tastes nasty and chemically. We apologetically send it back, the bartender was trying to "kick it up" by using Hanger One Kaffir Lime. Sorry if it was too intense for us. He takes the drink away but doesn't offer to remake it, neither does he offer an alternative. The menu is overwhelming, crazy stuff we have never seen before. We order some (well-made) sushi as we contemplate what else to order. The bartender doesn't go out of his way to talk with us, he doesn't ask if we have any questions about the food, he doesn't suggest his favourites. We get no love from him. I am sure the food there was fabulous, but we don't stick around long enough to find out. We paid for our one drink and our fish and walked down the street...

Our favourite restaurants in Napa and San Francisco, were not the fanciest. They were not the ones run by celebrity chefs. They were not the ones we had read about in food magazines or on Urban Spoon. Our favourite restaurants were the ones which had warm and welcoming staff. Our favourite restaurants were loud and busy. Our favourite resaturants were the ones where the staff seemed to care about their place. Our favourite restaurants were the ones where the staff seemed to care about us.

Our Favourite restaurant in Napa was the Rutherford Grill, in the Town of Rutherford. We sat at the bar, the bartender let me sample the local draft beers before ordering. He suggested a white from "down the road" for Danielle. On our first visit Danielle ordered the vegetable plate which featured local produce at its best. I had a wood roasted chicken salad. Our second visit Danielle had the veg plate again and I had a really great French dip sandwich. We were told by several people that they do the best cheeseburger in California. We hung out at the bar with a local winemaker who was clearly a regular. He said that he was part of two teams of regulars who regularly occupy this bar. He claimed his team was the A team, although the two gentlemen sitting on the other side of us, members of the other team, would argue that point. This was the kind of place that after our first visit we were recommending it to other travellers we met at wine tastings.

Our favourite restaurant in San Francisco was Nopa. This place was a moderately sized restaurant, but when we arrived at 9:30 on Wednesday night, it was packed. We were told that we would have a 45 minute wait. We went over to the narrow bar area for a drink while we waited, and

muscled in to the first on seats at the long bar top. The head bar tender was intense. His eyes were constantly scanning the bar for things that needed doing and customers that needed help. I asked him, as he was stirring drinks, "do you taste every drink you make?" He replied with "do you taste your food?" But in the midst of all that intensity he cracked jokes, engaged in political debate, asked us about our restaurant and generally helped us have a good time. It didn't hurt that the food was fantastic as well. Simple yet interesting, flavourful and oh so comforting. We had cubes of polenta with creamed corn, ridiculously tasty cherry tomatoes and melted cheese. We had wood grilled broccoli with buttered bread crumbs and anchovies. We had a chicken noodle soup that would make your grandma weep.

We left California filled with ideas about food, about wines, about drinks, about better ways to run a restaurant. It was supposed to be a holiday, but we spent the whole time thinking and planning. It was great to be inspired, but it was also nice to see that we were doing some things right. I was quite excited that my duck confit was better than Thomas Keller's duck confit at Bouchon, but more importantly, it was nice to be reminded that the type of restaurant we like to eat at, is the type of restaurant we own. Our place is busy and loud, the food is comfortable and tasty and we are warm and welcoming. Bistro 7 1/4 is the type of restaurant I would seek out if I was visiting from out of town.

Sage Garden Herbs

check out www.herbs.mb.ca

Sage Garden Herbs is one of the nicest places on the planet. You will be driving down St. Mary's. You will cross the perimeter, you will drive past all the nurseries and garden shops, and you will think you are lost and you missed a turn off. You will be almost at the floodway when you see the sign. You will slam on the breaks, almost missing the lane, and freak out the driver behind you.

When you drive up the lane, you enter an oasis of herbs and flowers.

I love going to Sage Garden Herbs. You walk through the greenhouse. You are encouraged to rub your fingers through the herbs. The scents delight and overwhelm. Not only is there basil and thyme and oregano, but there are twelve different types of basil, 6 oreganos, 9 thymes. I have tried lime basil, orange thyme and pineapple sage. This place is a cook and a gardeners paradise.

And Dave Hanson, the friendly proprietor, knows everything about the herbs he sells. He will tell you where they are from, how to grow them, which plants will do best in your conditions, how to harvest them, what to cook with them, all their medicinal properties and tidbits of folklore around them.

The reason I am writing about this place now, is that I was out there last weekend doing a cooking demo. Dave planted a garden last spring filled with squashes, peppers, chard, onions, and a large variety of heirloom tomatoes. Dave wanted me to come out to demonstrate what to do with all his garden's bounty. So, I arrived out there with a knife, a couple of frying pans, a little olive oil, salt, pepper etc. He had a table laid out with a cornucopia of fresh deliciousness, and said "Go!" In fourty five minutes I had prepared an heirloom tomato salad 3 ways; made a tomato and goat cheese galette, rolled some swiss chard rolls and whipped up a delicious choke cherry and lemon verbena mojito. I was just about to whip up a squash pancake with a tomatillo chutney, when Dave Yanked me off the stage. I had been talking for almost an hour and could have gone on for two more hours. Unfortunately, I was trumped by a troupe of belly dancers.

After demonstrating some basic knife skills, I started talking about how I want to encourage people to cook without recipes. I was talking about letting the produce inspire and direct you. I wasn't two minutes into my presentation when a woman in the back row raised her hand and asked "will you be giving us recipes for these?"

so, I told her I would post them on my blog.

Heirloom Tomato Salad, 3 ways

2 lbs assorted heirloom tomatoes, look for a variety of colours, sizes and shapes

2 tbsps white wine vinegar

4 tbsps olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

1. cut tomatoes into wedges

2. toss with oil and vinegar, season.

version 1, simple basil

toss basic recipe with a quarter cup fresh basil

version 2, south east asian

1 tbsp mint, chopped

1 tbsp thai basil, chopped

1 tsp lemon grass, finely chopped

1 tsp ginger, finely minced

1 tbsp green onion or chive, chopped

1 hot pepper, finely minced

mix all the above with basic tomato mix

version 3, a little bit greek

2 tbsp oregano, chopped

1 tbsp basil, chopped

a few sprigs of thyme

1 small red onion, juilenned

1/2 cup feta, crumbled

1/2 cup calamata olives

mix all the above with basic tomato mix

Heirloom Tomato and goat cheese Galette

basic tomato recipe

1 cup goat cheese

1/4 cup fresh basil

4 round of pastry. (make your own, by frozen puff pastry, even use pita bread)

salt and pepper to taste

spread goat cheese on pastry

arrange tomatoes on top

sprinkle with fresh basil, season with salt and pepper.

bake at 400F for 10 to 15 minutes

Swiss Chard rolls

8 large leaves of swiss chard. (Large beet greens work as well)

1 farmer sausage, removed from casing and chopped up

1 cup cooked white rice

1 tbsp chopped fresh dill

1 clove garlic, crushed

1 cup heavy cream

1. in skillet, saute garlic sausage. add garlic and dill. remove from skillet and mix in with rice. check seasoning. add salt and pepper as required.

2. cut stem off swiss chard. With the back of a knife, crush the spine of the leaves to make more flexible. blanch leaves quickly in boiling water. fill leaves with sausage rice mixture and roll tightly.

3. in skillet where you cooked the sausage add cream. bring to a boil. place rolls in hot cream and simmer to heat through. serve.

Choke Cherry & Lemon Verbena Mojito

1/4 cup choke cherries

2-3 leaves lemon verbena

2-3 leaves fresh mint

2 wedges of lime (one is for garnish)

1 tsp simple syrup (optional)

1 1/2 oz white rum

4 oz soda water

1. in mixing glass muddle the cherries with the mint and verbena.

2.add squeeze of one lime wedge, throw whole wedge in the glass

3. add rum and simple syrup. Shake vigorously. Strain into a highball glass over ice.

4. top with soda water, garnish with a lime wedge. enjoy!

the one I didn't get to:

Over Sized Zucchini Pancake with Tomatillo Relish

2 cups grated zucchini from one of those ridiculously large late season squashes

2 eggs

1/2 cup bread crumbs

1 tsp salt

1 tsp paprika

canola oil

1. mix squash with eggs, bread crumbs and seasonings.

2. form into pancakes and fry in oil until both sides are golden and crisp.

3. serve with tomatillo relish and sour cream. this is also a great base for a piece of grilled fish.

Tomatillo Relish

1 tbsp canola oil

2 cups tomatillos, husks removed and diced

1 medium onion, diced.

1 jalepeno or other hot pepper, minced

1 clove garlic, minced

1 tsp cumin seeds

1 tsp coriander seeds

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup cider vinegar

1. saute onions. add garlic, spices, jalepeno and tomatillo. saute for 1 minute.

2. add sugar and vinegar. bring to a boil. simmer until the mixture has a "relishy" consistency.

A few more random things you might want to know about sage garden herbs.

* they have the best grass seed. It is called eco-lawn. it uses grasses native to this part of the world. it grows slow, so less mowing. It grows anywhere, even in full shade. It will eventually grow thick enough to choke out weeds. I have never had any luck with grass seed, but this stuff is awesome. Plant in the fall, again in early spring, and again in fall. The only prep work is to rake the lawn before you spread the seed.

*In spring you can order lady bugs from Dave to spread in your garden to eat other bugs. Nature's pesticide! Did you know that in southern california, they drop lady bugs from planes to protect their organic field greens crops?

*Dave and I used to do food and herb demos together. The highlight was the Thyme Martini. We are talking about reviving these in the spring. Look to the Sage Garden Herbs website for more details.

check out www.herbs.mb.ca