A horse is a horse, of course, of course

I think I need to talk about my decision to serve horse meat at Bistro 7 1/4. To begin, I want all of you to know, this is not a decision I made lightly. Many of the things I do are spontaneous or whimsical, but this decision is something I have been wrestling with for 2 years.

Personally, I don't have any problem eating horse meat. (I will get in to my own reasons shortly.) But serving horse meat has stirred up some controversy. I have a very good customer who informed me she would not be coming to our restaurant as long as we have horse meat on the menu. Another customer, who owns horses, joked after finishing his meal here that he would have to go home and count his horses. There was a little on line discussion about the ethics of horse meat on our facebook page. Other customers have been excited by it and have wanted to try it. Those who try it, enjoy it.

Before I get into this discussion, I want to tell you a little story about rabbits. I was serving rabbit pot pie as a lunch special one day. When a customer heard what the special was, she started to cry, told us she had rabbits for pets, and walked out. I don't know if she ever returned. What I wanted to say to her was that although people have rabbits as pets, the rabbits I was serving were not anyone's pets. These rabbits were raised for food in the same way we raise chicken, pigs and cows for food.

Eating horse meat is perfectly acceptable in some cultures, and totally taboo in others. France, has restaurants devoted to the preparation and service of horsemeat; but just across the channel in England the idea of eating horse is horrific. The United States has predominantly followed the English example. In Canada, it is a little more complicated. English speaking Canada is generally opposed to the use of horse meat, but in Quebec it is far more acceptable. All through the world, you will find examples where horse is accepted and counter-examples where it is strictly forbidden.

In a multi-cultural society, we are always dealing with the questions of what is acceptable and what is taboo. For Jews and Muslims, eating pig is taboo. Hindus don't eat cow. Very few of us, eat bugs, although that is a common food staple in much of the world. I don't think i could eat the meat of a dog, but if i was in a place where it was culturally acceptable would i turn it down? For some of my customers, eating any meat at all is wrong.

I guess what it comes down to is the ethical choices we make as individuals, and the lines that we draw for ourselves. Every time you put food in your mouth, you make an ethical choice. And these choices are complex. Is it organic? Was it humanely raised? Does its production or shipping harm the environment? How much was the farmer paid for his work? Was the farmer treated fairly? Who are we supporting by paying for this food? The list goes on.

The ethical decision includes what species of animal we are okay with. I believe, that if you are willing to eat one type of animal, you should be able to eat any type. I say this, but i know that I would draw a line somewhere. And that's what it is all about. Where do you draw the line? Some people eat fish, but not fowl. Some eat no meat, but dairy and eggs are fine. Others avoid all animal products. And others, eat whatever you put in front of them.

As a restaurant owner and chef, I make ethical decisions about what I will serve every day. I don't always make the right one. Sometimes price, convenience or expedience wins out over the "right" choice. Sometimes the "right" choice isn't clear. I may have conflicting "goods". Which is better, organic lettuce grown 2000 miles away shipped in plastic bags or non-organic lettuce grown a few miles down the road with the mud still on the roots? I choose to buy much of my meat from local farmers. I choose, for the most part, fish that is considered sustainable. I use eggs that come from free run chickens. I support small, local grocers.

But once I have made the menu, the ethical decisions don't stop with me. You, the customer get to make those choices in what you order. If you think eating pork is wrong, then you will choose not to order it. Some people come to my restaurant, the "home-of-giant-grilled-hammer-chop", and order strictly vegetarian food. Some vegans come, and trust me to make them some thing special. Maybe you like duck but think foie gras is wrong. Then I suggest you order the duck and not the foie. Maybe you choose to only order organic wines.

And so, if you come in and I am serving horse, don't get upset with me. Just don't order it. If no one orders horse, it won't stay on the menu very long.

Is it wrong to serve or eat horse? I don't think so. At least it is no more or less wrong than eating cow or any other animal. So back to the question of why I put horse on the menu. Partly because it is a tasty, healthy meat. But I guess i wanted to engage in this very debate. The horse meat controversy is a catalyst for a lively debate about the ethics of food.

So, I invite any of you to come down to talk to me, email me (chef@sevenandaquarter.ca) or post comments on this blog. This conversation is worth having.

Everyday I make choices, I don't always make the right ones. But I sure do think about them a lot. And I guess that is my point. We all need to think about the food we put in our mouth.

Too many rants, not enough time

So I have been paralyzed! Too many things to talk about that I can't decide where to start.

1. potato-gate, i was going to write about how the big bully Peak of the Market, yes, the guy who talks into carrots, was oppressing the small farmer, the small grocer and the small restaurants who want to buy direct from the growers. But before i got to my computer, peak of the market met with the potato coalition people and made concessions to allow small producers to sell root crops with out restriction. (Thank you to the Shreimers, the Crampton's, Tall Grass Prairie and Ben Kramer and all the rest who lead the charge) I did get a letter back from our premier's office 4 days after the issue had been resolved, saying he would forward my letter to Stan Struthers, Ag minister.

2. Iron Chef Centrex, My team was brilliant but were crushed in the final. I was going to post a play by play, but some of the highlights include turkey skin short bread, rabbit ice cream, smoked chicken wings in a butternut bbq sauce-hanging over smoking coals, rabbit baby back ribs, butternut ravioli with butternut chutney, zucchini sangria...

3. Rapid Transit, not really a food issue, but it sounds like the city is building a bus path from downtown to my restaurant. 170 million to increase my traffic. I think i need more seats! But really, if we are going to spend money on rapid transit, shouldn't it be useful?

4. M.L.C.C , oh don't get me started!

5. Milk, it is easier to buy crystal meth than to get milk from a cow. This was going to spin into a tale of how the man (government) is so concerned about "protecting us" that they interfere with our ability to make informed choices. The people become like children...

6. Horsemeat why is it okay to eat some animals and not others? Why would rabbit pot pie make one woman cry and leave the restaurant but a chicken sandwich is perfectly fine? How do you decide what is ethical? I try to come down to two questions, Is the animal humanely raised and slaughtered? Is it sustainable? but what other issues are there?

7. Complaints and forgiveness, so many people don't complain in a restaurant cause they "don't want to cause trouble". The problem is that if you don't complain we can't fix it. If we can't fix it you will leave with a negative impression of the restaurant and then you will tell your friends how much we suck. If we can fix it, you will be happy and we will be happy. If i overcook your steak, let me make you a new one. Once you have complained, and it has been addressed, forgive us. We all make mistakes and in a busy restaurant it is hard to always be at %100.

8. %110, you can't give anyone %110. all you got is %100 percent. i was at a hotel that promised that if your room wasn't %110 clean you would get your room for free. I wanted to take them up on this, because no room could ever bee %110 anything. I could spin this rant into the overuse of meaningless cliches. Doesn't anyone have new words? hey, it is what it is.

9. waiting for your table: When you go to your dentist, and arrive on time, you expect to wait 1/2 an hour before you are brought in to see anyone. At a restaurant, why do people get annoyed when they have to wait 10 minutes for their table? At least at the restaurant, you can have a cocktail while you wait. They should have martini bars in medical offices!

10. Chew your Food why is it that in north america, the true test of the quality of a piece of meat is how soft it is. Are we too lazy to chew? Every piece of meat needs to be as tender as boneless, pumped, chicken breasts. This really limits the types of things a chef can do. Personally, i don't mind a piece of food that is a little "toothsome".

11. How Much Does Your Food Cost? I wanted to talk about what it costs a restaurant to put food in front of you, and let you in on the secret of how little money the owner actually gets to take home. I am concerned with restaurant reviews that focus largely on price, particularly when the reviewers sense of current prices is a little out of date. Food costs, labour costs, rental prices, and utility costs have all gone up in the past few years, and menu prices have to go up accordingly. My favourite customer comment is "32 for a rack of lamb", I can get one at safeway for $8. Yes sir, you could, but it is not quebec lamb, it doesn't come with a herb crust, potatoes, veg and a sauce, you would have to buy it, prepare it, serve it, pour wine, play music, wash the dishes and mop the floor when you left. You are not doing all this for $8. I think for my next blog, coming soon to a computer near you, will start here. I guess I want all of the dining public to understand that restaurant owners want you to get value for your dollar, and want you to leave happy and satisfied.

veal brains and fresh chick peas

Just got back from Montreal. Actually, it was two weeks ago, but time sure flies. I was looking at my last post and realized I haven's posted since December. Sorry about that, i am not a very reliable blogger it seems. Well anyway, here goes:

Veal Brains and Fresh Chickpeas

Visiting the markets in montreal always makes me weep. Tears of joy, yes, but tears of longing as well. We were in Montreal for 3 days and we visited 2 different markets. At Jean Talon we visited Olives et epices. Every spice you have ever read about in fancy cooking magazines. not only that, but they have a spice smelling station and an olive oil tasting bar.

Still at Jean Talon, I visited a butcher that raises pigs on Iles de Madeleine. A six hour boat ride, followed by a 15 hour car ride brings to the market a beautifully rustic selection of cured pork products. Tender head cheese, not overdone

with gelatin, sea salt cured bacon, rillettes and cretons, terrines made with hearts and kidneys, and a selection of beautiful dried sausage. We tried a spicy, very spanish tasting chorizo and an incredible dry liver sausage. The eighteen year old girl behind the counter, un-like the stereotypical apathetic teenager we have grown to expect, was passionate and knowledgeable about the products she was purveying. This one, she says, starts off tasting like sweet pork, then you get the liver taste, then you get a hit of spice. She let us try a piece, and you know

what, she was right. Back in winnipeg, I gave a few slices of this particular sausage to a good customer of mine. This gentleman, born in Hungary, man of the world having lived in both Paris and Rome, said that this was the best sausage he had ever tasted.

Our day was not yet done. We had heard from the cooks at Au Pied de Cochon, that they had picked up some fresh chick peas at Jean talon market just the other day. I have never even seen fresh chick peas! So we went looking. Exploring the produce section was incredible. Vendor after vendor selling beautiful fresh produce. We saw baby squashes, yellow and white carrots, wild mushrooms, bright red tomatoes that smelt like tomatoes, dandelion greens, salsify, golden beets, fingerling potatoes and more. And then we found the fresh chick peas. In my life, chick peas come in a can or dried. These, looked like little pale, slightly fuzzy, pea pods. Each pod had one or maybe 2 chick peas. They looked like chick peas, but were a pale green. Their flavour was a revelation. Yes, they had the flavour of a chick pea, but this was combined with the fresh green taste of a garden pea.

We finished of our day with the frothiest cappucinnos I've ever seen.

The next day, we hopped on the metro and went to the Atwater market. Again, we were blown away by the produce sellers. Remember, this is February in Montreal. As in Winnipeg, there is still a foot of snow on the ground. This produce is not coming from the neighbouring farms. Yet it is so important to these green grocers to only showcase the best. Not only is the produce fresh and healthy looking, it is displayed in beautiful ways. Individual pint cartons of baby carrots, cherry tomatoes, baby squashes, haricot verts and more are all arranged to create a painting with colour and texture.

Our day at Atwater always begins with a stop at the bakery. We go for cafe au lait served in a bowl and pain au chocolat (chocolate filled croissants) . We go their with the clear intention of having pain au chocolat, but we are always tempted to have the apricot pastries, or the almond frangipane tarts, or the eclairs... It takes a great deal of willpower to stick to the plan. After shopping for a couple of hours, we always return to the same bakery for a light lunch of terrines, pates, rillettes and local microbrewed beer.

After breakfast we check out the butchers. The second floor of the market is taken up by 6 or 8 butcher shops. Each one has more variety than anything we have in Winnipeg. Although they all have a wide range of products they all have a focus; one will do veal, the next duck, the next wild game. The first one we visited was clearly into sausages. In addition to a wide range of cured, dried and smoked sausages, they had 60 distinct flavours of fresh sausage: wild b

oar with red wine, broccoli and cheddar, cauliflower and bacon, spinach, maple you name it. Another butcher we visited had all kinds of duck confit, foie gras terrines, duck rilletes, pates and whole lobes of fresh foie. Another shop had ready to go meats. Beautifully garnished roasts of veal, pork or bison all tied, seasoned and ready to go in the oven. All decorated with elegant cuts of vegetable, fruit or charcuterie. Another shop had cuts of local veal. Not just chops and cutlets, but necks, cote de veau, shanks, liver etc. Every shop had its own boudin noir (blood pudding). My favourite was the one that was cooked and packed in duck fat. One shop had a whole shelf of thinly sliced, cured meats: duck prosciutto, air cured venison, salted beef. Just when I thought I had seen everything, I came to one shop that had in their cooler: fresh quails, fresh sweetbreads, fresh lamb kidneys and fresh veal brains. This is stuff you rarely find in

Winnipeg, and when you do, its always frozen. What struck me at that moment, was that people around here must eat this stuff. You wouldn't keep fresh veal brains on hand if you didn't know someone was going to buy them.

Our next stop, was the cheese shop. Here, we go a little crazy. We purchased about twenty different cheeses. Most of them raw milk from quebec. Hard nutty cheeses, outrageously stinky cheeses, bloomy rind goat cheeses, salty blue cheeses, old raw cheddars and runny bries. The people who work there clearly love cheese. They enthusiastically offer us cheeses to try. They will shrink wrap them for us for the flight, and will be sure to be gentle with the soft cheeses.

And then our last stop is always the little gourmet grocer. Here we struggle to decide which of the hundred types of mustard we should buy. How many different salts do we need? Do we bring home some crazy pastas, some beluga lentils, some white truffle honey? We buy a bottle of elderflower cordial, some violet syrup and some hibiscus flowers packed in syrup.

And then, fully laden down, we hop onto the metro and return to our hotel.

When we return from Montreal people always ask us, where did you go? what did you do? where did you eat? When we tell them we spent most of our time in the markets they think we are pretty lame. But if I went to Montreal, and the only thing i did was go to the market, i'd be happy.

So I can hear you all asking, "where's the rant, Alex?" My blogs usually have a bit of a ranty tone to them. When i publish my first cookbook, it will be subtitles "recipes, ramblings and rants of chef alex" So far, i have presented a sweet travelogue of my trip to Montreal. So here we go:

Why can't we have a year round in-door market in winnipeg?

I love St. Norbert Farmers market. I go there as often as I can. I love that more and more farmer's markets seem to be popping up and I try to visit each of them. There is one at Assiniboine downs with some great meat suppliers, there is one at Pineridge Hollow, one in old market square and even one in Osborne village. The problem is that these places are only open one or two days a week for about 3 or four months in the summer.

Market shopping is not a lifestyle here. We go to markets in the summer kind of like a hobby. But we don't really do our shopping there. When I lived in Italy, our only fridge was the size of a bar fridge for a family of 5. We kept a jug of milk, a bottle of water and a couple of beers for papa in the little fridge. For food, we went to the market every day. Every day we had fresh produce, fresh bread, a couple of yummy cheeses and we would by our meat or fish for the day. There was no weekly trip the the big box grocer. Buying food was part of your every day experience, and because of that, our food was always fresh, new and always tasty.

When the forks opened, many years ago, I was super excited. Finally, Winnipeg was getting a year round, in door market. Unfortunately, my dreams were quickly shattered. The forks is a nice place to take your out of town guests, it is a nice place to go tobagganing and skating in the winter, it is a good place to host events like the children's festival or the dragon boat races, but it is no market. Inside the forks market building, you have a food court. You have a few boutique shops. There is one butcher, one baker and one green grocer. The forks, from its inception really missed the mark. I don't want to disparage individual shop keepers, as they are all well meaning, and like me, are just trying to make a buck and put a little away for the kids college fund. The problem the forks faces is structural. The forks does not allow competition. If there is one candy seller, there can't be two. if there is one meat seller there can only be one. And this is a huge failing. It is competition that makes a market great. I remember in Italy when there would be half a dozen stands selling nothing but roma tomatoes. All basically thesame, all roughly the same price. Each Tomato vendor was convinced that they had the best tomatoes, and they would do whatever it took to convince you that his were bigger, tastier and cheaper than the next guy. In that kind of atmosphere, you could never get away with selling bland, dry or wilting tomatoes. The vendors in the markets in Montreal are all in fierce competition. They have to always be convincing you that their sausage or their honey or their carrots are the best. In this kind of fiercely competitive market, you are forced to have the best products available and you have to put great effort into displaying your wares in beautiful, eye catching ways.

The other problem our market faces is that it is not used as a place to shop. And this is a catch 22 situation. Because it is not a great market, no one goes there to shop. Because no on goes there to shop, it can't be a great market. People will stop and pick stuff up when they are there, but no one plans there weekly shopping around the market. The forks meat market tried to do some neat stuff. She had some great steaks, some merguez, andouille, toulouse and other neat sausages. I was pretty excited, but the next time i was there it was all gone. She couldn't sell enough to keep it up, but because she couldn't keep it up she couldn't build a following. So, becasue the forks doesn't do the volume of sales it needs to sustain it, it can never get good enough to attract the following it needs.

People say we can't have a year round market becasue we have winter half the year. To that I say phooey! Yes, phooey! Montreal has winter as well and they sustain at least 3 markets. We need a market modelled on the atwater market. Indoors, year round, with butchers, bakers, green grocers and the like. A market that encourages competions and pusshes for excellence. In the summer, like they do at atwater, we can add stalls outside the market building for all the farmers to bring in their seasonal wares. And what I say to all of you, if someone out there has the vision to make this happen, then all of you people who take food seriously, need to get out and support that market.

on the meaning of names

When is a chowder just a soup? How far can you go from an original dish and still keep the original name? I was having a discussion about food with another chef last night and it turned into a rant about the naming of dishes on a menu.

I am all for inventive cuisine. I am all for pushing the limits. I love the twists on classic dishes that creative chefs engage in. But i wonder how far you can stray from that dish and still use that name. Do dishes have an essence that must be preserved?

Let me explain. Beef carpaccio is thin slices of beef served raw. A simple drizzle of olive oil, some sea salt, fresh cracked pepper and maybe parmesan or capers sprinkled on top. Creative chefs can dress it up with arugula or shaved fennel, drizzle truffle oil, maybe a gastrique whatever they want. Any funky riff on the classic and it is still carpaccio. I think you can make it with bison or venison or elk and still call it carpaccio. What happens when you move away from red meat? Is thinly sliced raw tuna or salmon still carpaccio? or are we better off calling it sashimi? But it gets really dicey when we start talking about fruit or vegetables thinly sliced. Thinly sliced beets, or tomato, or cucumber is not carpaccio, its a salad. Thinly sliced watermelon, i don't care how you dress it up, is just watermelon.

Another favourite is bisque. Bisque is a rich, creamy soup made of crustaceans. What makes bisque interesting is that the shells are pureed and added to the soup. Bisque is traditionally thickened with rice. If you made a creamed soup with salmon and pureed it should you call it a bisque? If there is no seafood, can it be a bisque. Is a pureed tomato, mushroom or squash soup a bisque? Is it fair to call it that?

What about chowder? My definition of chowder is a soup which contains potatoes and bacon. It can be creamy (new england) or not (manhattan). It is traditionally clams, but i've made mussel chowder, crab chowder, corn chowder and my new favourite, cauliflower chowder. But the essence, to me, is potatoes and bacon.

Chicken cordon bleu is chicken stuffed with ham and swiss cheese. Is it still cordon bleu with prosciutto and fontina? Is a caesar still a caesar if you grill the lettuce or leave out the anchovies? Do latkes have to contain potato?

I encourage chefs to go crazy! Do whatever. Combine flavours that have never been combined. Use techniques in new ways, or invent completly new techniques. Just don't stick it with an old name. Leave the classics intact. If you are creative enough to invent a new dish, you are creative enough to give it a new name.

I am not talking about deconstruction here. Deconstruction in the culinary world is the technique of dismantling a classic recipe and re-assembling the components so that the diner can experience the essence of the original dish as they enjoy the different components separate and then recombined. (For all you literary critics and english majors out there, don't start getting all technical and start quoting derrida on me. This is a culinary movement that has little to do with literary criticism) Deconstruction, done right, is all about preserving or even celebrating the essence of dishes.

I am talking about moving so far from a dish that you lose the essence of that dish. What makes beef carpaccio interesting, is that you are eating an item that you usually eat cooked (beef) and serving it raw. If you serve tomatoes thinly sliced, it might be pretty, but it really is not that interesting, and it is definitely not carpaccio.

Roast Cauliflower Chowder

1 head cauliflower

2 tbsp canola or olive oil

1 onion, diced

1 red pepper, diced

6 slices of thick cut bacon (cut into 1 inch peieces)

1 clove garlic, smashed

4 potatoes, diced

4 cups chicken or vegetable stock

1 cup heavy cream

salt and pepper to taste

sprinkle of parsley

1. cut cauliflower into flourettes, toss in oil. on a cookie sheet spread out cauliflower and roast at 400F for about 20 minutes. ( it should be nicely browned)

2. Sautee onions and peppers with bacon. add garlic.

3. add potatoes, cauliflower and stock. Bring to a boil and simmer until potatoes are tender.

4. add cream, check seasoning and serve with a sprinkle of parsley.

enjoy!

small is beautiful

Everyone is talking about the ethics of eating. Should we eat organic? Biodynamic? Vegetarian? Vegan? Buy local? Eat within 100 miles from home? Free range? pasture fed? Humanely raised? Sustainable?

All these things are good, but anyone who has been in earshot of one of my rants, will know I have concerns with all these categories. Recently I have been thinking of the importance of the small.

Small is beautiful.

Last week I was given a cd of music by Corin Raymond (www.myspace.com/corinraymond). The title of the cd is "there will always be a small time". In the title song he talks about how the big time music industry will often let you down, and is falling on hard times. But the small time music industry, playing in clubs and parlours, will endure. The only thing that won't change, he sings, is "that folks like us will sing songs for folks like you". Music, he says, "is coming home again".

I was listening to this, and thinking about small, and realized that food needs to come back home again. Restaurants need to stop buying from big multinational suppliers and buy from small local growers, farmers, grocers, butchers and bakers. Home owners should shift their buying from the big chains to the local corner stores and markets. Diners need to move away from the big chain restaurants and start frequenting the mom and pops. We need to move away from buying meat raised in huge ranches, fed in overcrowded feed lots and slaughtered in the monolithic meat packing facilities and start buying meat raised in pastures on family farms. We need to move away from the intensive hog barn operation where the pigs never see the sun and find a local supplier buying his pigs from a family farmer. Stop buying produce shipped from California or further when we can find beautiful vegetables at our nearest market gardener.

The prevailing theme here, is small. Small time producers can't afford all the pesticides, hormones and antibiotics that the big guys use. Small producers also need less of these. All the big lysteria or salmonella outbreaks have happened in the huge production facilities. Do you remember when we couldn't eat spinach? This was because all the spinach was coming from a small number of huge corporations. If we sourced our spinach from hundreds of small farms, we wouldn't need to worry if one of these suppliers developed a problem with salmonella.

When we lived in Italy, we had a small fridge. It was a bar sized fridge for a family of 5. In it we kept milk, water and a few beer for papa. The small size could be a problem, but created an opportunity for a lovely new way of life. Instead of driving to a big supermarket every week, loading a cart full of groceries, and filling a big fridge and an equally large freezer with food for the week; we would walk, every day, to the market. We would visit our favourite (small) tomato guy, our lettuce guy, our mushroom guy; we would buy meat from the butcher or fish from the fish monger. We would grab some bread from the baker and of course a selection of cheeses. And we would do this every day. Always fresh, always tasty.

I have a small restaurant, so come eat at my place. But enjoy other small places as well. We were at the Falafel Place the other day, and loved it. Check out the Underground Cafe or Eat! Bistro. Go visit Scott at Pizzeria Gusto, say hi to Fern at In Ferno's. And there are many more little places to choose from. And if you are craving Earls' calamari, go for it. But the next time, try that little diner down the road from you.

I am not suggesting that you give up the superstore's and costco's of the world. I was just at costco today and bought a lifetime supply of herbes de provence. But I am encouraging you to shop at Vic's Fruit Market. Buy your meat from Marcello's, or Denny's or the Ellice Meat market; wherever your local butcher is. Don't eat wonder bread. Buy real bread from Tall Grass or Le Croissant. Go online and look up www.harvestmoonfood.ca to find out about the harvest moon farmers co-op and their "know your farmer" philosophy. Support your local small businesses whenever possible. They need you. They will appreciate your 20 bucks more than the CEO of FacelessFoodCorp Inc. In return, you will be rewarded with better food and better service. And you will develop a real relationship with your food and the people who produce it.

And as you look around the food world, and see all the problems with sustainability, BSE, swine flu, lysteria outbreaks in luncheon meats, salmonella outbreaks in spinach, or tomatoes, or sprouts, GMO products, overuse of antibiotics and hormones, trans-fats, food additives, the dominance of high-fructose corn syrup everywhere...

...remember, there will always be a small time.

Small is beautiful.

Small recipes:

I wanted to add some small recipes. I was going to do sliders, mini-burgers, but I am writing an article on sliders for the spring issue of flavours magazine. So I didn't want to scoop my own story. So I decided to include recipes for devilled eggs. With the entertaining season upon us, we are always looking for tasty, easy appetizers that can be made ahead. And who doesn't like this retro favourite.

The method is simple. Boil the eggs and cool them down. Peel the eggs and cut them in half. Scoop the yolk out. mush the yolk with the other ingredients, and return to the hollow of the egg. You can spoon the yolk back in, make perfect balls with a small ice cream scoop or pipe a rosette in with a star tipped piping bag. Traditionally, the eggs are sprinkled with paprika. I am including three variations, but beyond that, let your imagination run wild.

A few tips for boiling the eggs. Start with good eggs. I like natures farm eggs, sold as Vita Eggs. If you can get eggs from a local farmer, even better. Look for free-run, or organic eggs. But be warned, just cause it says "farm" on the package, doesn't mean the chickens haven't been raised in a wearhouse building near the airport. When I boil the eggs, I put a lot of salt in the water. This helps the egg peel easily and won't effect the taste. The most full proof method I know for hard boiled eggs, is to put them in a pot of cold water. bring them to a boil. Then I put a lid on the pot and turn the heat off. As the water cools, the eggs will cook, and then stop cooking usually at just the perfect state of doneness. I find them easiest to peel, if you crack the eggs, then run them under cold water. Water will get inside the shell, separating the white from the shell.

Lobster Devilled Eggs

6 eggs

4 oz chopped lobster meat (canned or from cooked lobster tails)

1 tbsp finely diced red pepper

1 tbsp finely diced green pepper

1 tsp finely diced chive

1 tsp finely chopped parsley

1/4 cup mayonaise

1/2 tsp paprika (and some to sprinkle)

pinch of cayenne

salt and pepper to taste

1.)mush eggs, mix all ingredients together, return to egg.

Bacon Devilled Eggs

6 eggs

4 slices of bacon

1/4 cup mayonaise

1/2 tsp paprika

pinch of cayenne

salt and pepper to taste.

1. cook bacon until crisp, drain and reserve the fat.

2. cut 12 thin slivers of bacon for garnish. finely mince the rest of it.

3. combine egg yolks, bacon and seaonings with mayo and 1 tbsp of reserved bacon fat

4. return to egg whites and garnish with bacon slivers

Curried Devilled Egg

6 eggs

1/4 cup yogurt

1 tsp curry powder

1 tbsp slivered almonds

1 tbsp chopped chives

1 tbsp raisins

1 tbsp cilantro

salt and pepper to taste

1. combine all ingredients. return to egg

duck and brussel sprouts

I got it in my head that I wanted to do duck with brussel sprouts.

I start with a nice big duck from my hutterite friends. I rinse it off, inside and out, score the skin on the breast and thighs to let the fat run off. There are two little flabby bits of skin at the bottom that i cut off. save these for the next step. I sprinkle the skin liberally with sea salt and coarsely ground black pepper. Freshly ground of course! There is never a good reason to use pepper that was ground a month ago.

In the pan, I lay out diced red potatoes, quartered white onion and a whole bulb of garlic, split into cloves. The duck goes on top of this. Into a 45oF oven. The goal is to crisp up the skin, get it nice and brown, but to still have a little pink left in the meat. I roasted my duck for about 1/2 an hour.

For the brussels, I started with those two flabby bits of skin from the duck. I cut them into little julienned strips. In a big heavy skillet, I browned the duck skin and rendered all the fat off. It was like little duck lardons (french for bacon bits).

I sliced the brussel sprouts and browned them in the skillet with the duck skin and duck fat. I poured in a splash of white wine and deglazed the pan. I let the wine reduce and cooked the brussel sprouts a bit. Then I stirred in some grainy mustard and some wild flower honey. A little salt and pepper to season it, and yum.

I piled the crispy potatoes on plates, piled the brussel sprouts next to the potatoes. Then I sliced the duck and lay the pieces on top. And voila, duck and brussel sprouts! This is how chefs and their families eat on their night off.

p.s my kids had "shake and bake" chicken

Thanksgiving

When we gathered my family around on thanksgiving, I asked each one of them what they were thankful. My son said pizza. My eldest daughter said friends and family. And my youngest said she was thankful for us coming together at the table for a family meal.

I am thankful for all these things as well. I like pizza. I cherish friends and family. And the gathering together of people for a shared meal is so very important to me. We opened Bistro 7 1/4 not so that we could run a successful business, but so that we can share the warmth and comfort of meals shared with others. Many of the guest we greet each day started as welcome strangers and have now become cherished friends.

I am thankful for all of you who come to our restaurant. We started with a crazy idea. We took a great risk. But all of you who come here, and keep coming back have supported us and made our dream come alive. You have supported us, and you have forgiven me when I have overcooked a steak. You have supported us, and forgiven us when we screw up a reservation. You have supported us, and forgiven us for when a dishwasher dumps a glass of wine on you table. And you have all celebrated with us. Celebrated with us in the party which we host nightly at the bistro. You have shared your birthdays, anniversaries, graduations with us, and we have shared ours with you. And you have come to us when it is a cloudy wednesdsay and you just want a bowl of mussels. And for all you love and care and support, I thank you.

I am thankful for all my staff. We have a great crew of people who work here. Often we feel more like family than co-workers. Yes, like family, we bicker. But more often than not, we support and care for each other. I have staff who have been with us since the very beginning. I have staff that came to me as teenage dishwashers and now are holding down responsible full time positions in the kitchen. I have staff with years of experience in the industry and could work anywhere, but have stuck it out through thick and thin. We all work very hard, but we have a great time together. I am thankful for each and everyone of those names on my schedule.

I am thankful for my friends, my UU church and my broader community. You provide fun and nourishment to us. You bring joy to us when you come through our front doors, and you bring comfort when we gather together. You remind us every day that the world is a good place and the people in it are worth caring for. Thank you.

I am incredibly thankful for my family. I am thankful for my mother-in-law who does the daily cash outs, washes the stinky kitchen towels and takes care of the kids at night. I am thankful for Marcel who chauffeurs the kids to their various activities, takes my kids out on special outings to the bookstore or sushi bar or costco for hot dogs, and is always their to bail us out in a pinch. I am thankful for my parents. My parents who helped us get the bistro of the ground in the first place, my mom who bakes and my dad (he calls me chef) who fixes the railing on the stairs and the toilet paper holder in the men's room. My parents who are always willing to go on a late night run for more mussels or to replenish the vodka we just ran out of. Thank you.

I am thankful for my kids. They always forgive me for being gone for such long hours and will always share their joy and love with me. They will bring me breakfast in the morning, sasha will explain his theory of 12 dimensions to me in great detail. Olivia will always make me laugh, and encourage me to sit on the floor and play playmobil with her. And ursula, wise beyond her years, always caring for others, will keep me hip and young and cool. Thanks to all three of you.

But I am most thankful for my beautiful wife, Danielle. Every year she gets more beautiful. While the rest of the world gets older, she seems to get younger and hipper. She is the reason I am successful as a chef. She is the reason Bistro 7 1/4 opened. When she saw that we were ready, her strength, vision and skills made my dream a reality. And she is the reason the bistro is still going strong. Danielle has an incredible ability to make everyone feel welcome, loved and cared for. She creates the atmosphere that makes people fall in love with the bistro. On nights when she can't be here, people feel it. But I am also grateful for her support behind the scenes. As a mother, she makes sure Ursula has the right ballet slippers, that Sasha's gee in pressed and Olivia gets her cardboard dulcimer decorated in time for kindermusik. She make sure the hydro bill gets paid and groceries get bought and that there is cold beer in the fridge for when her husband returns from work. And she does all this while homeschooling the kids and working every night at the bistro. And for me, she is always there to back me up, support me and defend me. I may be the big hot shot chef, slinging my knives and flaming my pans, but she is the one holding me up, encouraging me and providing me with (almost) unconditional love. For Danielle, I am most thankful.

Thanks!