Hi everyone…the Excellent Folk Fest Feast contest entries are now closed, look for a winner to be announced here and on All Points West on Monday. In the meantime, I’m getting married!
Along with All Points West and the Victoria ICA Folk Fest, I’m offering a couple of fantastic and delicious prizes in a contest which closes at 6pm, Friday, June 10th.
We want to hear about your favourite folk festival food memories. Is it the Beavertails, those little tiny donuts, or the fantastic picnic lunch you made to bring to the festival?
We have two great prizes:
#1: 1 pair FolkFest admission passes
Dinner and dessert for two on the World Feast Stage (July 6)
(Dinner prepared by Simon Manvell, Dock 503; dessert by Candace
Hartley, Dunsmuir Lodge.)
Return transportation to Vancouver Island for car and 2
passengers courtesy BC Ferries
2 nights accommodation for 2 at The Victoria Marriott Inner
Harbour (July 6 & 7)
*credit card required for incidentals
Buffet breakfast for two at The Victoria Marriott Inner Harbour
#2: 1 pair FolkFest admission passes
Dinner and dessert for two on the World Feast Stage (July 2)
(Dinner prepared by James Barber, The Urban Peasant, and Bill Jones, Deerholme Farm; Dessert prepared by Alberto Pozzolo and Janet Cochrane of the Italian Bakery.)
Click on ‘Comments’ at the bottom of this page to enter.(and please make sure you mention where you are writing from, so I can pick an out of town winner for the ferry tickets and hotel) Once again, contest closes Friday, June 10th, and the winners will be picked at random from all the entries. Good luck!
Congratulations to Laurie Hunter and Louisa Stanford, winners in the Win A Donna Hay Cookbook Contest. Thanks to everyone who entered, lots of super quick recipes posted, I hope people try them out and post any comments here on the results.
A few weeks ago I was very fortunate to have Donna Hay come to my kitchen in Vancouver. Donna Hay is an Australian cookbook author and food magazine publisher who has a series of great-looking cookbooks that are beautifully styled with tons of easy and delicious recipes. Every recipe has an accompanying photo that shows you an inspiring finished product, but not so intimidatingly styled that you can’t imagine making it yourself.
Her latest book is called The Instant Cook, and she showed me how to cook in an instant, rummaging through my fridge and pantry and then telling me how to cook a delicious pork loin with Asian greens.
I have two copies of The Instant Cook to give away. Just click on the Comments link at the bottom of the page and tell me about your favourite quick recipe you like to make at home.
In the summer I love to make cheese quesadillas on the barbecue, with mozzarella or cheddar cheese, sometimes with some thin slices of ham or turkey in between and some pickled jalapeno slices. Or maybe it’s just some frozen prawns sauteed in butter and olive oil, stir in some pesto and white wine and throw over pasta.
Tell me about your faves and I’ll pick two winners. Deadline is Tuesday, May 31st. Good luck!
Congratulations to Jennifer Zuk! She is the winner of a ‘Shop with a Chef’ day courtesy of Edible Vancouver.
Here are some of the highlights of the streets and places people mentioned as they wrote in:
Bosa’s on Victoria Drive for Italian foods
Gourmet Warehouse at Victoria and Pandora for dry goods, kitchen supplies and gourmet food items
Around the 2400 Block of East Hastings by Victoria:
Donald’s Market for produce
Rio Friendly Meats
El Pulgarcito for Mexican snacks and ingredients
The Wheelhouse for fresh fish
Scardillo’s Grocery – Italian
Pine House Bakery
Bianca Maria’s – Italian deli
On Broadway between Blenheim and MacDonald:
For Greek ingredients, The Parthenon and Minerva’s.
For produce, Young Brothers.
For decadent pastries, Notte’s Bon Ton
On Commercial Drive:
Continental Coffee
La Grotta Del Fromaggio – Italian deli
Cafe Calabria
Santa Barbara Market
J, N, & Z Deli where they smoke, roast, and prepare all sorts of sausages, pepperoni, ham hocks, bacon
Norman’s for fresh produce
Fratelli Bakery
Main Street from King Edward to 28th:
Windsor Meats – great butcher shop
Tonina’s, a great Italian deli
Jasmine Halal Meats and Deli – Mediterranean
Tasty Produce
Solly’s Bagels
Quejo’s South American, coffee, dessert shop
Main Street between 12th and 21st
Cobb’s bakery
One-O-One (or Yek-O-Yek) a deli and bulk food store run by a friendly family from Iran. Liberty Bakery at the corner of 21st and Main
Robson Street, the west end of it
Capers
Robson Street Market for meat and seafood
Chocolate Mousse, kitchen shop
Lonsdale Ave. in North Vancouver:
Lonsdale Quay, with a gem of a Thai store where you can stock up on lemongrass, kafir lime leaves, galangal and pretty much any other Thai ingredients you need. There is the Stock Pot for delicious stocks, delis and a butcher, a bakery and a fabulous fresh fish shop.
Artisan Organic Bakery on the 100 block.
Just east of Lonsdale on 3rd, there is Fiesta Filipino, where you can find a variety of ingredients from the Philipines.
1100 block- Mountain Top Wheat and Gluten-free bakery.
1300 Block The Meat Shop and Deli; Iranian foods
1500 block, Golestan Bakery.
19th, Pars is probably THE Iranian store on the North Shore.
Over the road is the Organic Coffee Shop where you can buy a variety of organic coffee beans. And on the next block is a New Apple Farm Market and a Seven Seas Fish Shop.
2200 block is the Queensdale Supermarket which sells fresh organic goods.
And don’t forget the Farmers Markets at Trout Lake, Nat Bailey Stadium, in the West End Granville Island and the UBC Farm.
Thanks to everyone who entered the contest and for your detailed and thoughtful comments.
I had a note the other day from Robin Coope, who thought it would be a good idea to get folks discussing what their favourite food shopping street is in Vancouver. Great idea, Robin!
Except I’m expanding the range beyond Vancouver to the Greater Vancouver area, because I know there are some great food shopping streets in Burnaby, Richmond, Surrey, and so on. I’m not looking for great restaurant streets…just places where you shop for great ingredients.
Examples? Main Street between King Edward and about 28th Ave in Vancouver, for Windsor Meats, a neat little Italian deli, the Lebanese shop for all things Middle Eastern…or what about that stretch of Lonsdale in North Vancouver where all the Iranian shops are gathered? 
You get the idea, please share your fave raves.
Of course there is a prize. One of the entries will win a ‘Shop with A Chef’ tour, courtesy of Eric Pateman of Edible Vancouver, a company that specializes in showing clients the best parts of the British Columbia food scene. During your tour, you will shop with a top Vancouver chef, then head to his or her restaurant kitchen to cook the ingredients! It’s a very fitting prize for this particular contest.
There are two ways to enter. One, by clicking on the ‘Comments’ link below and typing your entry. Two, by calling the Early Edition’s Talkback line and recording your entry at 604-662-6690. Contest closes Friday, May 13th at 6PM PT. I’ll review the entries and announce the winner on Tuesday, May 17th during my regular appearance at 8:24am on the Early Edition.
