Seems there are a lot of retrospective post out there at this time of year, featuring favourite experiences or popular posts. Being that I haven’t posted yet this year (because I’ve been busy with lots of exciting projects, including the sold out Death Row Meal Club, Taco Edition), I thought this would be a fun jump off point for a year of exciting content on CommunityFoodist.com. Thanks as always for reading, and for your support I do this for you guys.

So, Im going to do a few things here. Firstly, is a recap of the most popular posts in the history of this site, and lets go with a top 10. Shall we?

1. Eat. Drink. Learn. Rest. Repeat. - one of the best culinary events in Ontario. This post has had more than 3.5 times more hits than any article on here. Wow. 
2. Picnic - my first visit to the fundraiser for Slow Food, held by Evergreen Canada at Brickworks. I understand that they will not be doing this event again, and will be instead looking at new models of fundraising and different events. Looking foward to seeing what happens with this. 
3. Welcome to the Neighbourhood Fanny - this reminds me I need to pay another visit to Fanny, soon. It has been a while, and recently Geoff Hopgood was consulting with them on their menu. Interested to try the food again. 
4. Savouring Stratford – A Day Spent Foraging in the Country - a great day, put together with the help of our friend Suresh
5. Jarcake - I was reading about 2012 food trends and this was on the list, food in jars. Seems I was ahead of the curve :) 
6. Chocolate Schmeared Pomegranate Shortbread - absolutely adore these cookies, and thought about making them again during the holidays but didnt get to it. Might make some this week. 
7. The Elvis Brownie - stay tuned for something along these lines coming soon. Been working on a recipe for about a month now. 
8. Olde Hunters Feast - legen----dary.
9. Dialoguing - talking about how we choose to live. 
10. Making the Farm to Fork Connection - Oh, sigh, how I love the farm and my farm family. 

What about some of the top posts from just 2011? The top 4 posts were a part of the top 10 above, so I will list a top 5 beyond those entries. 

Welcome to the Neighbourhood Fanny, Jarcake, The Elvis Brownie, Olde Hunters Feast

1. #FoodRevTO - what are your favourite places to eat in Toronto?
2. One Place, One Dish - would love to see some new comments on this post. 
3. From the County to the City, a Labour of Food Love - a fun night spent at the GE Cafe Chef Series: Food For Thought. 
4. Meaty Pie - Venison and Berkshire pork, together at last. 
5. Halibut with Rhubarb Bacon Sauce - sour, sweet, salty, all paired with a meaty delicious (sustainably caught) fish

Does anyone have a favourite post that you have enjoyed over the last couple of years? I would love to hear about it. 

The holidays are fast approaching, and it is tine to get those survival kits ready for those last minute and unannounced guests that will inevitably drop in for a drink and a snack, or perhaps an impromptu party on a cold and snowy eve. Are you prepared, do you have enough wine so you don’t have to endure last minute LCBO lineups? You might be too late, but I am going to share some of my choices for affordable whites under $20 with you, anyway. Ontario makes stellar white wines, so get out there and support local industry, and get a buzz while you are at it! 

I invited some of my girls over for holiday drinks, and a meal was requested. It seems with my #BratPack girls that my reputation precedes me, and I needed to prove my skills are legit. Playing hard to get, I gave a solid maybe, and started menu planning.  I had been waiting on an opportunity to try out the beef I received at a blogger event put on by Canadian Beef, and this seemed like the perfect opportunity to get a roast in the oven, and to use the new Lodge cast iron I picked up. Nothing like cooking with good cast iron and roasts are so easy, and satisfying. Best part is that leftovers can be used for so many things (tacos, sandwiches, salads, pastas, etc.). Season the meat, get a good sear on it, pop it in the oven, and forget about it for a while. Easy. I had a piece of meat that was just under a kilo, and I roasted it at 275 for 90 minutes. 

The holidays are fast approaching, and it is tine to get those survival kits ready for those last minute and unannounced guests that will inevitably drop in for a drink and a snack, or perhaps an impromptu party on a cold and snowy eve. Are you prepared, do you have enough wine so you don’t have to endure last minute LCBO lineups? This issue of my Holiday Survival Guide is your guide to VQA Reds that will work in any given situation, and are just good to have around. Ontario makes some great wine, and when it comes to red you cant go wrong with a blend, some of which I have listed below along side their single varietal brothers and sisters. All of my choices are under $20, and are ranked in no particular order. Enjoy!

The holidays are fast approaching, and it is tine to get those survival kits ready for those last minute and unannounced guests that will inevitably drop in for a drink and a snack, or perhaps an impromptu party on a cold and snowy eve. Also, it is gift-giving season, and there are lots of great ideas out there of what to buy, and my preference always leans to food and drink so here are a bunch of suggestions. This issue of my Holiday Survival Guide is for the people who don’t like to bake, but like to indulge. I have compiled a small list of some pro’s that you can order treats from for the holidays to keep around for you and your family, your guests, or to take to places you have been invited to share some goodness with others. Ordering treats for any one of these great local businesses will make you a hero at your dinner or cocktail party, office holiday lunch, to bring to a friends for a gathering, or just to have around the house. Support your local bakers! Also, here is a cool recipe I did last year during the holidays, a Pomegranate Shortbread with a Chocolate Schmear. 

I present to you some of my favourite shops around Toronto where I get treats when I am out and about, in my Holiday Survival Guide Baked Goods Edition. As well, here are the links to the Holiday Survival Guide Fine Food and Beer Editions in case you missed those posts. 

The holidays are fast approaching, and it is tine to get those survival kits ready for those last minute and unannounced guests that will inevitably drop in for a drink and a snack, or perhaps an impromptu party on a cold and snowy eve. Also, it is gift-giving season, and there are lots of great ideas out there of what to buy, and my preference always leans to food and drink so here are a bunch of suggestions. This issue of my Holiday Survival Guide is all about convenience, and some spots to go pick up a few items to have around the house or some unique food gifts for those foodies on your Naughty or Nice lists. There are some great independent retailers out there to support during the holidays, and here are some things I have come across. 

Yesterday we talked about beer, and today I present to you, my Holiday Survival Guide Fine Foods Edition.

The holidays are fast approaching, and it is tine to get those survival kits ready for those last minute and unannounced guests that will inevitably drop in for a drink and a snack, or perhaps an impromptu party on a cold and snowy eve. Also, it is gift-giving season, and there are lots of great ideas out there of what to buy, and my preference always leans to food and drink so here are a bunch of suggestions. Firstly, The Holiday Survival Guide Beer Edition: This was the summer that I decided to get into beer, and I did in a big way. Here are some of my favourites that I discovered recently, and that I keep around for when I have the urge to have a nice ice-cold beer. There are some great choices here for the season including Winter Beard, which is a really nice dessert beer that you can share with a few lucky friends.

Sunchoke & Roasted Garlic Soup

I got this recipe from my friend Ninja, who has been working this season at Vicki's Veggies but is a cook by training. We are always looking for new ways to use the veggies that we sell at the markets, and most people are not familiar with Sunchokes, so Ninja brought this recipe so people could have a way to prepare them, and also buy our potatoes and garlic :) 

The Jerusalem Artichoke is actually not related to an artichoke at all, nor does it have anything to do with The Holy Land. Actually, it is related to a sunflower and is we use its tuber as a root vegetable. I find it nutty in flavour, but some people find it is not dissimilar to the taste of an artichoke.

Remember when making soups that any measurements are just approximate, and you should just use your judgment and taste the soup as you go to adjust flavours to your personal taste. I used some garlic scapes that I has sitting around from the spring, and they worked really well in this soup. If you know what you are doing you can be playful with the flavours, and as you can see by my note below I used different herbs based on what I had around (adds "buy dried thyme" to to-do list).

Kyle Demming isn't necessarily a name you know, but if you venture to the eastend at all there is a likelihood that you might have eaten his food. Kyle was the chef of Ceile Cottage, a place that most of us have been, and if you haven't then I suggest you add it to your list. Ceile was always an island of refuge in the east, and a place I would travel too, especially for their legendary St. Patty’s day fests and some good cheer any time of the year.

For a while I had heard a rumour that Kyle and his wife were opening a sausage shop, and to me this is quite exciting. I had never met Kyle, but did have the pleasure this summer to finally connect after much tweeting back and forth. His much anticipated opening sa a few set backs, but he recently was able to open. Queen St east of the DVP has been seeing lots of new food business pop up, and I am finding myself out there quite often these days, which is nice.  So, recently when Kyle tweeted that he had made the shops first hot dogs I knew it was time to make the trek to visit.

My commitment to myself: eat seasonally (ie as locally as is possible), and not only participate in the process of getting the food to my table as much as possible, but also to use all of the food I am provided with and to not produce unnecessary waste.

One sunny Wednesday this fall I met a farmer in a seedy back alley behind Queen St., and a deal was done. Sounds unscrupulous, doesn’t it? Scandalous even! What went on in that alley was a long time coming, the result of a post on wellpreserved.ca, from one of my food gurus, and I waited to make as my dish for the yearly birthday party I throw called Meatluck. That’s right, Meatluck. Meatluck is an all meat potluck where I invite 50-60 friends over and everyone brings some booze and a dish containing meat. That is the only rule, at this point, that the dish must have a meat component. I randomly choose which course my friends are responsible for, and leave the rest up to them. Appetizers, sides, mains, and yes even desserts.

I like to do something out of the ordinary for my dish, and use an ingredient that most people would not have been used to, and the first two years I used calf tongue. The first year I just slow cooked it, and served it with challah and a bunch of mustard, while in the second year I cooked it and added it to a sauce of soubise that I learned how to make from Vicki, who learned it from Jaime Kennedy (recipe here). So, back to this years dish and the boar head I was gifted by Fred and Ingrid at Perth Pork Products, where I get the majority of my swine from.

Fall is a time for comforting leisurely brunches with good friends, and to spoil yourself with rich foods that make your belly full and happy. Lately I have had a hard time keeping up with both my old time favourites and all of the new restaurants on the scene in Toronto, and there have been some quality places popping up. A lot of the places that are on my hit list are not open for lunch, and this is when I tend to eat out, so brunch is a perfect excuse to check out one of these places.

My gorgeous and very talented friend Peggy

Art and food are a natural synthesis and have been influencing each other for centuries. A group of chefs who do dinners together all over the city recently decided to use images and create dishes to reflect the story behind them. Brilliant. Calling themselves The Group of 7 also has a resonance to us as Canadians, so that adds an extra element of excitement to the evening that saw 30 diners come together for food, drink, and to be wowed in the studio space of the westend gallery The Department. 

One of the things I love about these types of dinners is the camaraderie between cooks, and how they work and joke together like they have been friends since childhood. It is always a good time, and fun to get to hang out and witness the debauchery that happens while magic is being made and canvasses created on a plate. 

The food scene in Toronto right now is, as my nephew would say, SICK! So many talented chefs, and great places to eat all over the city, it seems a new hot spot is popping up every few weeks. International influence, local ingredients, focused menus and even some great VQA wine or local craft beer to wash it down. I love our city, I love the talents that make Toronto a food mecca and leader in innovative cuisine. I am lucky to know some of these people, and call them friends, and have opportunities to see what goes on behind the scenes and try off-menu items from time to time. I love my life. 

People of the Westend rejoice, because you now have a place to get cakeart. Yes, that’s a thing. You have seen the shows on Food Network, and if you are lucky you have experienced something like this in person. Some times it looks better than it tastes, but your new westend bakery is legit. Cake Star has arrived, and these two sisters have a serious baking pedigree with flour and sugar running through their veins.

Oh baby, I like it raw?

Um, ok maybe that isn’t what ODB meant when he wrote this song, but raw food seems to be a growing trend in the GTA. With the explosion of health conscious people and the trend towards eating less meat you could for certain adapt that song and loop it to make it an anthem of sorts,  or not. 

I made friends recently with the most wonderful person. She was in the process of changing her business from one of the most successful cleanse delivery services in Toronto, to a full service raw vegan restaurant in Toronto’s east end, catering to the stroller and eastie-hispter veggie friendly crowd of Leslieville. We all know that I am a champion of everything meat, but I have an open mind (these days) and do like to have the odd meal that doesn’t include any animal proteins. Usually, I would just balance my day by eating a package of bacon, or something like that.

I saw a recipe a while back on a Dutch blog on how to make Balsamic salt, and this really intrigued me. The possible use of this salt is boundless, and untested, I mused. A quick Google search didn’t turn up much, so I knew I was on to something here. Fast forward, and now I had the need to actually make this for myself and play around with it. If a few of you are lucky, you might even get a small jar to use yourself. Might.

Here is the original post, translated into English. I used this to see how the method would work, and how much flavour the salt would have in the end. Then, I had to make it my own so it is truly a Community Foodist creation.

I tried both a very coarse salt, and regular Kosher Salt, to be able to measure results and see which worked better with my final method. I prefer the ease of the coarse salt, and it can always be ground to any coarseness for use in the kitchen. The original recipe calls for a syrup, but I found this impractical mostly. If you over reduce your syrup it will not mix with the volume of salt you are trying to cure. It will merely clump, and be pretty useless. Yes, I know this from experience. So, I decided that partially reducing the balsamic, and then adding the salt would likely be the best bet. Then, finish reducing so you can see when it is time to remove from the stove.

Soup is easy, soup is fun, and also it is tasty! Take what you have that you think goes together, clean it all up, roast it, put it in a pot and cover it with water, cook and season it.

Here is a soup I made this week: 

• 10 ears of corn
• 3 medium sized squash
• 10 apples
• 3 red peppers
• 2 medium onions
• 3 shallots
• Cumin
• Salt
• Pepper

Memories of growing up involve memories of comfort food, and regardless of your cultural upbringing there are always some great dishes that bring us back to our childhoods. It seems a common theme on my blog is comfort food, because it is what makes us feel so great, especially when we are down, but even when we are just hungry and don’t know what to make for lunch or dinner.

Things have changed in society, and in my own morality as it relates to my food choices, so sometimes I come to a dilemma. One such debate occurred when I realized that eating non-sustainably fished seafood was not an option for me. What about my beloved tuna melt, and salmon patties, even the much unloved tuna casserole!? Would they be gone forever, or was there an option out there for me?

Was talking to a chef I know, who deals with sustainable fish and we were talking tuna melts. An option was to take a tuna loin, and make a melt out of it, but that didn’t seem very economical. Tuna should be cherished, and not consumed very often, so with a great specimen like when you would get when you bought a loin, it is best for tartare or sushi.

Then someone told me about Raincoast Trading, and the day was saved. Canned sustainable fish and seafood, readily available, and not overly expensive either. I immediately emailed to company to see if they would like to send me some samples, so I could try it and maybe develop some cool recipes to share with my readers. 

I paid a visit to a very cool Asian market recently, and picked up some cool ingredients. This had an influence on how I made dinner last night, when I had a craving for salmon patties.

No, those are not peppers, they are stuffing tomatoes. They dont have a tremendous amount of flavour, but are hollow like a pepper, you just have to cut off the top and hollow them out. You could use peppers in this recipe, but it is the end of tomato season, and this is something different.

Been looking at these guys for a couple of weeks at Market, and waiting for an opportunity to work with them. Here is what I came up with:

• Sautee 1 lb ground beef in half a stick of butter, add some salt. 
• When it starts to brown add a bit of wine, and cook until just about medium rare.
• Remove from the pan, and add in 2-3 cups of Israeli couscous (or regular, or rice, or whatever you like).
• Add the cooking liquid, and equal parts stock and water to cook your starch.
• When it is all cooked, remove from the heat add combine everything and adjust the seasoning.
• Stuff your tomatoes, cover the tops with foil (not necessary, but will keep everything moist) and finish on a BBQ or in the oven.

Thanks to my market friends Vickis Veggies and Dingo Farms for the amazing tomatoes and beef.  

Shakshuka is a very typical Israeli brunch dish, and a really great thing to eat this time of year (or any time, really). It is basically a stew of tomatoes, onions, garlic and spices, with eggs poached into the mix. Then, it is  served with fresh hot pita, or crusty bread. With North African roots, it has great flavours and is very rustic, smple to prepare, and is a total crowd pleaser. Here is how you make it. 

I like things a bit spicy, but habañeros are usually off my radar. They are such a gorgeous pepper, it was hard to resist bringing some home from Vickis Veggies at the market last weekend, with plans in mind to create something hot and tasty. I love to share my creations with other people, and I know enough people that like heat, to find taste testers and recipients of a jar of this fiery goodness.  This sauce should keep for ages in your fridge in a jar, and can be used to add great flavour to soups or stews, or just rubbed on chicken or sandwiches. 

I am trying to compile a list of dishes that certain restaurants in the GTA are known for, and I am recuiting my readers, and friends, for help. This is not a list of peoples favourite foods, rather, it is a list that people can look to when they are looking to try something special that a restaurant does well. Help me out, and leave some comments on your favourites, or if you disagree with something listed here. These entries are from some crowd sourcing I did last week. Thanks! 

I’m always very curious as to peoples favourite restaurants in the city. I'm always on the lookout for new and different places to enjoy favourite cuisines, and to pass on to others so they can enjoy, as well. I always want to create and foster dialogue when it comes to food, its why I started CommunityFoodist.com, in the first place. I am starting to use a new hashtag on Twitter from time to time "#FoodRevTO". This will help me track what people think with regards to the changes that our going on in the food movement in Toronto. I want to ask questions like: Who impresses you in our culinary scene? Where do you find good value and fresh ingredients? What is your comfort food? Where do you shop for your produce? Is it important for you to know who grows/raises your food? What is more important local or organic? And so on...

As incentive to participate in the questionnaire, I will be offering 2 people $20 gift certificates to DealTicker. Just tweet "I just entered to win a $20 gift certificate from @DealTickerTO through @foodie411's #FoodRevTO questionnaire ". In order to qualify to win a prize you must answer the questionnaire (at least in part), and tweet. The Contest will run from July 21st 2011 at 9AM EST, until July 26th at 5PM EST. A winner will be chosen at random by DealTicker staff. 

There are a lot of deal sites out there, and I am not here to convince you that one is better than the other, but the kind folks at DealTicker offered me these prizes, so it's an opportunity to try out their services for the 2 lucky winners. Some recent foodie deals on DealTicker included: Sukho Thai, Asahi Sushi, Insomnia, Bombay Bhel, and more! Check them out here: dealticker.com, and here are some words from the DealTicker folks:

We are proud to say that we differ by having a Charity of the Month feature. Every month we pick a charity for which we raise awareness and funds. We have previously teamed up with Canadian Cancer Society, The Heart & Stroke foundation and many other notable charities. MADD has signed up for September, and other big charities are coming onboard as well.

We have a separate page on our site dedicated to this:
http://www.dealticker.com/past_charities.php

We also had Yahoo write about our initiative:
http://news.yahoo.com/first-time-online-group-buying-history-dealticker-launches-20110128-070100-283.html

The questionnaire, after the jump...

Was at market this past Saturday, and saw the cutest little girl walking around with a huge pod af fava beans in her hand. She took me to our neighbouring stand, to show me where she got them. I was excited to get my hands on fresh favas, as my friend Sam is a huge fan, and I have heard great things from people who have tried her fava dip. Here is my own creation, I hope you try it out and let me know what you think! 

Canada Day weekend.

Sunshine.

Friends.

Booze.

Food.

Rinse, and repeat.

Drunken BBQ’d French Toast