Jane’s Walk in the Lower Don River

Tags

Beechwood, Brickworks, Crothers Woods Trail, Domtar, Don Valley, East York, Garth Armour, Jane's Walk, K-9 unit, Lower Don Recreation Trail, Margaret McRae, Mary Fragedakis, nature, O'Connor, Paula Davies, Pottery Road, Taylor, Todmorden, Toronto Police Services, Walkabout

I attended my first Jane’s Walk on Saturday, May 4. The late Jane Jacobs has been described as a “legendary urban thinker, writer and activist.” Jane’s Walks take place on the first weekend in May and are held in 90 cities in 20 countries.

This link has further information about the history of Jane Jacobs: http://www.janeswalk.net/index.php/about/

The Jane’s Walk that I took part in was the “Lower Don River Ecological Restoration & Heritage Walk.” The event was hosted by Toronto City Councillor Mary Fragedakis and the Urban Forestry Department’s Garth Armour and his co-worker Kim.

Our rendezvous point was at the corner of Beechwood and O’Connor Drives. I know this area quite well since my wife and I lived across the street when we were first married and often walked in the Lower Don.

(Click on any photo to see a larger version)

the corner of Beechwood Drive and O’Connor Drive

our hosts Ward 29 Councillor Mary Fragedakis and Urban Forestry Department’s Garth Armour

We started our walk promptly at 2 p.m. and headed a short distance north on Beechwood Drive, then turned left onto Beechwood Crescent, stopping at number 20.

20 Beechwood Crescent

This is the oldest privately owned house in East York and was built in 1840. The house has remained virtually unchanged, although it once had a porch which spanned the entire front of the house. It was the home of George Taylor whose family by 1855 owned paper mills, sawmills and grist mills in the valley. He started the Don Valley Brickworks in 1889 and supplied most of the brick for East York homes for many, many years.

photograph taken September 2012 at the Evergreen Brickworks

We then traveled down Beechwood Drive, which is very steep. Stopping part-way down the hill, Garth discussed what the valley looked like before the Don Valley Parkway was built and the damage that was caused in this area due to Hurricane Hazel in 1954.

Continuing to the bottom of Beechwood Drive, we stopped at the location of the Toronto Police Services K-9 unit. This was the former location of Domtar Polyresins, which purchased this site in 1961 and remained there until the 1980s.

photograph taken August 2012

We then continued to the crossroads of the Lower Don Trail and the former Beechwood Avenue. There is an active railroad line in use here and this railway bridge is one of my favourite things to photograph.

photographed March 2013

photographed November 2012

photographed August 2012

photographed September 2012

Our next stop was the bridge between Cottonwood Flats and Sun Valley.

After crossing the bridge we walked up the recently completed Crother’s Woods Trail, which has a gravel main path along with many other trails branching away from the main trail.

The top of the Crother’s Woods Trail provides a great outlook of the entire valley.

There are so many great opportunities for photographs.

At numerous locations Garth continued to tell our group about the history of the valley, the issues of multi-use trails, the massive tree planting efforts and the new hydro trail.

Garth Armour

The Beechwood Wetland is being restored and expanded and Garth told us about the crucial role of the Task Force to Bring Back the Don and the importance of advocacy work.

In years gone by, the Don River meandered as any river would, but the river was straightened out in several sections and river weirs were needed to accommodate fish migration.

Our walk continued parallel to the Don Valley Parkway where numerous embankment improvements have been made. We arrived at Pottery Road, where a massive reconstruction project was completed last year. This includes a crossing that was the best compromise for pedestrians and cyclists. The crossing has been criticized by many people and it was suggested that the crossing should have tunneled under Pottery Road. Garth pointed out that this would have cost millions of dollars. Personally, I have no problem with this solution.

photograph taken August 2012

photograph taken August 2012

Our final destination was Todmorden Mills,which was the site of the first mills on the Don. A sawmill opened in 1795, grist mill in 1796, paper mill in 1826 and a brewery in 1821. Owners and workers lived onsite and two houses remain intact. This property was purchased by the Taylors in 1855 and became their lower mill. The homes on this site were lived in until 1965.

I suggest that if you haven’t visited Todmorden Mills, you should—it is one of East York’s true gems.

After a great two-hour Jane’s Walk, our journey had come to an end. The beginning of our walk saw just over 30 people and by its end I counted 50 since additional folks joined along the way. My thanks go out to Mary Fragedakis, Garth Armour and his co-worker Kim. They were so informative and helped make for a fantastic day.

It is also worth mentioning that we had two other very special people attend our walk. Margaret McRae is the past-president of the East York Historical Society and is currently president of the Toronto Field Naturalists. Also in attendance was Paula Davies of the Todmorden Mills Wildflower Preserve. Paula is also actively involved on the Task Force to Bring Back the Don. Paula graciously invited anyone who was interested for a tour of the wildflower preserve immediately following our walk.

Our two-hour adventure was amazing and I met lots of new people and new fellow East York friends. My thanks again to Mary, Garth, Kim, Margaret and Paula for a spectacular Jane’s Walk on a picture-perfect day.

Fantasy Farm’s willow trees, 55 Pottery Road

World’s largest BBQ store

Tags

BBQ, Big Green Egg, Broil King, Concord, Dizzy Dust, Duff Dixon, Napoleon, Ontario Gas BBQ, Thermapen, Toronto

I first met Duff Dixon, president of Ontario Gas BBQ, several years ago. We were both invited to a gala luncheon for the Princess Margaret Lottery. Duff and I were there because our companies were supplying prizes for the Lottery. Duff and I exchanged business cards and I found out that Ontario Gas BBQ was a Big Green Egg dealer. For those of you who don’t know about the Big Green Egg, it is an amazing culinary tool.

I had wanted a Big Green Egg for years, and for my birthday in 2010, my wife said that she would buy me a Big Green Egg. I called up Duff and he put together all the necessary bits and pieces for a medium-size Egg. I picked it up on my birthday and drove it home fully assembled in our car.

For starters, here are some photos of my Egg in action. We have grilled steaks at 650°F, smoked pork, chicken, turkey and duck at 225°F, and baked pizza and bread on the Egg. With its thick ceramic walls, it is the perfect grill, smoker and oven. And of course, it is old-school, using lump charcoal—no briquettes for this baby!

The Big Green Egg is just one of an amazing number of products available at Ontario Gas BBQ. If you are into grilling, smoking or any kind of barbecue activity, you will be like a kid in a candy store at Duff’s place.

Duff takes great pride in knowing that his store is the largest BBQ store in the world. With over 51,000 square feet of space, Duff has everything that you could ever need in the barbecue world.

3310 Langstaff Road, Concord, Ontario

One of the store’s claims to fame is one entire huge room dedicated to nothing but pellets, charcoal, wood chips, chunks and logs. Apple, cherry, pecan, mesquite and hickory flavours are just some of the available woods.

I love this part of Duff’s store with all the Big Green Eggs laid out plus their cool accessories and parts:

How cute is the Big Green Egg Mini?

The Big Green Egg tablecoth weights, salt and pepper shakers and candles are also available

And if you think Ontario Gas BBQ only sells the Big Green Egg, my goodness, think again. How about outdoor pizza ovens?

And if you want the traditional old-school smokers, they have every size you need:

For those chilly evenings here are some propane heaters and fire pits:

And if you are looking for an unusual cooker, check out this pig roaster called La Caja China. Have a look at Duff’s video.

Here is another specialty item cooking device called the Speducci:

Do you need more grills? Here are a few more:

Once you have bought your outdoor pizza oven you will definitely need to buy a peel:

And an apron:

And some dry rub/spices/marinades/sauces. My favourite dry rubs are the ones from Dizzy Pig and they now have some no-salt versions:

Although I didn’t get a photograph of it, Ontario Gas BBQ carries the absolute best instant-read thermometer. You may have seen Alton Brown using it in his cooking shows, but Duff has them in many different colours. Don’t believe all the old techniques about poking your food to test for doneness. Nothing compares to the accuracy of the Thermapen.

If you love to barbecue and need parts, service, advice, rubs or any kind of accessory, then Ontario Gas BBQ is your must-visit destination. Duff and his staff are friendly, knowledgeable and ready to help you in any way. That’s why they have been in business for over 30 years!

The Holly Golightly Evening

Tags

Alexa Clark, Ann Gagno, Carmen Correia, Cary Silber, catering, Christine Pantazis, Deborah Peniuk, Encore, Golightly, Holly, Jenelle Antolin, Maria Aguilar, Mark Rodas, Mark Santos, Myra Sable, Nicholas Wong, Roshan Wanasingha, Ryan Silber, Sable & Rosenfeld, Shilpa Raikar, Stacey Fowler, Tanya Hsu

When I retired in June of 2012, I wanted to broaden my circle of friends and become more active with other food and photography enthusiasts. Via Twitter and Facebook, I became friends with Joanna Sable from Bumpercrop and Lisa Kates known as A Food Gypsy. Their circle of food enthusiasts included Nicholas Wong. Nicholas and I became friends on Twitter and Facebook last July and found that we shared many interests including photography, food and motor racing. And up until yesterday, I had never had the chance to meet Nicholas IRL (in real life).

A few weeks ago Nicholas asked me to be his guest at a one-night-only special event titled “The Holly Golightly Evening.” I was flattered to be amongst 15 “fellow influencers” as we enjoyed dishes prepared by Chef Roshan Wanasingha from Encore Food with Elegance and featuring gourmet products from Sable & Rosenfeld.

Our evening began with us meeting for a limousine pickup at the Summerhill LCBO.

(Click on any photo to see a larger version)

During the limousine ride we were treated to some delicious hors d’oeuvres made by Encore, and Nicholas cracked open some sparkling wine. The limousine whisked us to the head office of Encore at 5000 Dufferin Street. Here are a few of the attendees about to enter Encore. Nicholas is second from the right:

Ryan Silber

We were welcomed to Encore by its president, Cary Silber, his son Ryan, and Myra Sable, president of Sable & Rosenfeld. Keeping with the Holly Golightly theme, we were offered beverages including martinis featuring Sable & Rosenfeld’s Tipsy Cocktail Condiments.

Myra Sable and Tanya Hsu

Christine Pantazis, Nicholas Wong, Ann Gagno

Our menu for the evening was to include a trio of appetizers, a main dish, plus three desserts.

Cocktails in hand, we had a chance to meet each other and our gracious hosts plus enjoy a few more treats:

We were then invited into the kitchen to put on gloves and hats and prepare appetizers with the assistance of Chef Roshan’s excellent staff:

Stacey Fowler, Mark Rodas, Chef, Nicholas Wong

Chef Peter, Alexa Clark, Deborah Peniuk, Carmen Correia, Shilpa Raikar

Then it was time to be seated and enjoy the appetizers we had just made and, of course, continue to enjoy our beverages:

Shirley Lum, Deborah Peniuk, Alexa Clark, Mark Santos

It was now time to start the official menu. For our appetizer course we were presented with “Poultry Three Ways.”

Sable & Rosenfeld jerk chicken on homemade corn bread muffin with mango salsa

Sable & Rosenfeld teriyaki chicken taco placed on a zucchini ring with red daikon and cilantro sprout

Open faced turkey burger on brioche bun with Sable & Rosenfeld cranberry sauce

The presentation of our appetizers was amazing. My favourite was the jerk chicken, which had just the right amount of heat.

While waiting for our main dish, the president of Encore, Cary Silber, told us the history of Encore and some of his stories from having been in this business for over 30 years. His company has provided many different types of catering services including catering the recent event celebrating the arrival of the panda bears in Toronto, attended by our Prime Minister.

Cary Silber

Our main dish consisted of two different kinds of fish:

— Sable & Rosenfeld lemon olive tapenade crusted halibut

— shrimp-crusted salmon on a jasmine rice pilaf with baby yellow zucchini, sautéed snow pea leaves and three-pepper coulis

This was outstanding! Both fish were excellent, but I leaned a little more towards the halibut:

While we waited for our dessert, Chef Roshan Wanasingha spoke to us about his career. He has been the executive chef at Encore for the past 12 years. While the catering business does present its challenges, he enjoys working at Encore because he and his staff do manage to have a great deal of fun while working hard at the same time:

Executive Chef Roshan Wanasingha

For our final course, the dessert, we were presented with a trio consisting of chai-spiced honey cake with poached pear and raspberry sorbet; layers of oatmeal dacquoise blackberry ice cooler; and bittersweet marjolaine with hazelnut parfait. My favourite was the honey cake with poached pear—it was exquisite!

By the end of our meal we were all very, very satisfied, not only with the quantity and variety of the dishes we had eaten but also the quality and the presentation. Kudos to Chef Roshan and his staff.

My personal thanks go out to Nicholas for allowing me to have been a part of this very special evening. And thank you to our hosts, Cary and Ryan, for an unforgettable event—and to the lovely Myra Sable for providing her products, stories, charisma and the Sable & Rosenfeld goodie bags we were all given to take home. A memorable evening.

Qsine—Celebrity Silhouette

Tags

Blu, Celebrity Silhouette, cruise, Eastern Caribbean, food, Hugh, ipad, Murano, Nancy, Nikon 1 V1, Qsine, restaurant, Shanna, Tuscan Grille

Nancy and I recently cruised on the Celebrity Silhouette with our dear friends Hugh and Shanna from Chilliwack, British Columbia. The Silhouette is one of Celebrity’s Solstice class ships and has a passenger capacity of 2,886 passengers. I will be doing a separate blogpost about our cruise, but I would like to focus this one on an amazing eating experience in one of Celebrity’s specialty restaurants—Qsine.

Qsine is one of four specialty restaurants on board the Silhouette, the others being Blu, Murano and the Tuscan Grille.

Blu

Murano

Tuscan Grille

Dining in the Oceanview Café and the main dining room on the ship is free. There is, however, a surcharge for eating in the specialty restaurants. For Qsine we paid $40 per person not including wine. We decided on Qsine based on a recommendation from friends of ours who are seasoned expert cruisers. They have dined in all the specialty restaurants and said that Qsine was a must-visit experience, so we made a reservation on our first day aboard the Silhouette.

The tagline for the restaurant is “Uniquely Unordinary,” and I can truly say this was an eating experience unlike anything that we have ever experienced. Our reservation was for 7 p.m. and we received a reminder card in our stateroom about our reservation—attention to small details such as this is what sets the Celebrity line apart from many others.

Our waiter explained what was about to happen. He asked us about our general food likes/dislikes and then he made some suggestions for us while we perused the menu and wine list, which were presented to each guest on their own iPad:

I asked for a printed copy of the menu so that I could remember and describe all the dishes that we were about to enjoy:

There was no limit to the number of items we could order, and all dishes were intended to be shared by the table. As it turned out, we ordered just the right amount of food and although there were many other tasty treats to sample, we were pleasantly filled by the end of our meal! The dishes were small—almost tapas style, which meant for a leisurely dinner. There was no time limit and at no point did we ever feel rushed.

Our first dish was Lava Crab—Alaskan King Crab with sweet yellow corn and scallions, wrapped in Kataifi, which is a Middle Eastern pastry made from shredded phyllo dough, sitting in Old Bay lobster sauce. Our waiter turned the balls of lava crab in the sauce to get the Kataifi nicely coated. We each had half of a ball:

I’m not going to describe the taste of each dish with all the standard descriptions of “delicious, scrumptious, wonderful,” etc. Let’s just say that every single one was unique and we experienced so many different flavours, tastes and aromas that my writing skills would be lacking in trying to accurately describe everything.

Keeping with a seafood theme, our next dish was Lobster Escargot—fritters with parsley-garlic butter sauce:

To help mop up the sauce, we were given cones of bread that had been baked in a banana leaf:

Still with our seafood theme, we next had Disco Shrimp—bouillon-poached tiger shrimp, avocado, tomato and celery with cocktail aioli and crunchy toppings. The shrimps were in glasses that had flashing lights in them, hence the disco connotation:

The presentation of each dish continued to amaze and amuse us and then came something very unusual. Called M’s Favourites, it was described as a Mediterranean dollhouse:This was a granite case with a handle on top and 12 compartments, each containing a Mediterranean dish, including patlican salata, mixed olives, tzatziki, eggplant imam biyaldi, tabbouleh, hummus, chicken kofta, zathaar lamb chops, kibbeh, Mediterranean chili, falafel and goat cheese cigars! Since there were two chicken skewers and two lamb chops, they brought us an extra plate of chicken and lamb so that we each had one. The lamb was outstanding and even Nancy liked it although she is not usually a fan of lamb:

At this point we were definitely slowing down, but more courses were on their way. Next up were two different kinds of Spring Rolls—baby back pork spring rolls with chipotle coleslaw and white truffle BBQ sauce; vegetable mélange spring rolls with cilantro, chipotle coleslaw and sweet and sour sauce:

And our last dish was the Painter’s Mignon—a perfectly cooked medium-rare filet mignon for each of us along with five different accompaniments served in what looked like a painter’s palette dish:This included mashed potatoes, mac and cheese and mushrooms as well as a wine reduction sauce that was so outstanding I wanted to take a gallon of it home with me!

And we were not finished yet—dessert was next. Our waiter came out with a silver-domed tray revealing our dessert menus:

On the tray were four multi-sided cubes. Opening and turning a cube revealed the different dessert choices including doughnuts, cupcakes, cake, ice cream and even a surprise dessert. Three of us went for the Silver Bullet, which held three different flavours of ice cream, and my friend Hugh went for the cupcakes. Here is the Silver Bullet:

The cupcakes were presented in a lunch box complete with four cupcakes, sprinkles and a piping bag for applying the icing:

Here is a short video showing the Disco Shrimp in action plus our dessert menus and Hugh’s cupcake decorating skills: Qsine video

And just when we thought we were done, out came “Strawberry Fields Forever.” Here’s our waiter with chocolate-covered strawberries planted in a field of real grass:

Everything about Qsine was fun and lighthearted. We all had some great laughs and the presentation of the various dishes was so creative. Even the lighting in the restaurant was done with whimsy with lamps bolted to the ceiling:

Was this meal worth the $40 per person surcharge? Absolutely! Would we attend another specialty dining event on Celebrity again? Without a doubt!

Kudos to Celebrity for delivering this thank you card to our stateroom the following day:

This was without a doubt one of the best culinary experiences of my life.

How not to run a restaurant

Tags

bakery, customer service, eggs benedict, Facebook, failure, restaurant, social media, The Artisan Baker, tweets, Twitter

Last Saturday, my wife, Nancy, and I had business to attend to at Yonge and St. Clair in uptown Toronto. After we finished our meeting we decided to grab a quick bite at a new bakery café in that neighbourhood called The Artisan Baker, which opened its doors in December 2012.

I learned of The Artisan Baker by seeing it mentioned on Twitter, so I started following them and as per Twitter etiquette, they started to follow me.

Not long after following I received this Tweet:

Needless to say, I was pretty impressed that they knew I was into photography and that they had taken the time and trouble to look at my Twitter profile.

One never knows who the person is behind the Tweets for any given company. It could be a staff member, the owner or a third party. In this case it was a third party and it turned out to be someone that I have met. I was told to ask for the owner and say hello.

It was around 10:30 a.m. and the place was packed. We were seated at one of the few remaining empty tables. Nancy ordered a mocha and I ordered a cappuccino and we asked for a glass of water each while we perused the breakfast menu. In hindsight we should have just ordered a pastry, but since both Nancy and I both planned to do some shopping downtown afterward, we decided to have something more substantial. Our coffees arrived and alarm bell #1 went off—they were not as hot as they should have been. Nancy ordered the Eggs Benedict and I ordered the Canadian Breakfast. And while placing our food order I reminded our server that we still wanted our water, which had not yet appeared. When we finally received our water, it was at room temperature!

After 15 minutes our food arrived but we had no cutlery so we had to ask our server for forks, knives and napkins. We each took a bite and both of our meals were stone cold. I waved over a server and we immediately sent our meals back to the kitchen to await replacements.

After a few minutes, our server returned to our table to offer us an apology and to ask if we would like to have complimentary croissants while we waited. We declined the offer of the croissants and waited patiently for our meals. As we waited, we noticed other patrons having issues. The woman seated next to us had to ask twice for her cup of coffee and then two different servers each brought her a coffee. Someone at another table complained about the water tasting odd and sent theirs back. I have to say that our water tasted fine although the first pour, as I mentioned, was at room temperature. Subsequent refills of water were colder and it was odd that they kept refilling my glass while ignoring Nancy’s half-full glass.

After twenty minutes, our server apologized for the delay and said that our meals were just starting to be prepared and would take a further five minutes. I suppose we were both in shock and really should have stood up and walked out the door at that precise moment. Or we should have asked for the manager or owner, but we did neither. I’m not sure what the protocol is for a kitchen, but I would assume that when a customer returns a meal for some reason, that customer’s replacement meal should shoot to the top of their preparation list. Ours was not. There were obvious problems in both the front of the house and the back of the house that day.

I do understand that the restaurant business is a difficult one. But it’s all in how the establishment deals with problems to make things right with their customers that makes all the difference in the world. And no restaurant can be perfect 100% of the time. But on this particular Saturday, The Artisan Baker was having its share of problems. Too successful too quickly? Perhaps. Kitchen not staffed to deal with a full-house on a Saturday morning? Perhaps.

Once our replacement meals finally arrived, our server said that we would not be charged for them. On the bright side of this disaster, this time they were delivered hot and were quite tasty, but it’s worth noting our server did not return to ask if everything was now to our liking.

I asked for the bill for our coffees and it took another five minutes to receive our bill. I put my credit card on the table and while I waited, Nancy made a trip to the restroom. And guess what? There was no soap in the single dispenser! Another failure. Another five minutes passed so I scooped up my credit card and tossed cash on the table. We left and vowed never to return.

Nancy posted a rant on her Facebook page and people were asking us if we had asked to speak to the manager which we did not, and in hindsight we really should have.

Later that afternoon I posted this rant on Twitter:

Now here is where things get very interesting. To date, I have received no response whatsoever to my Twitter rant. The power of social media is formidable. People watch and follow Tweets in order to see how companies respond to customer service issues and complaints. Customer complaints are public and must be dealt with immediately and without attitude. Apologies and the correction of the issues to the customer’s 100% satisfaction are paramount. If done correctly, the customer usually responds in a positive manner with a follow-up Tweet telling the world that the company made good.

No such thing has happened with The Artisan Baker. A totally epic fail and we will never return.

Perhaps the staff and the owner need to re-read their mission statement:

Please leave me a comment as to how you would have handled this situation.

Manning Canning

Tags

canning, Christine Manning, demo, demo event, food, in-home, jams jellies, Manning Canning, Orange Onion Jam, pickled carrots, pickling, preserves

Last November The Meat Department’s manager, Cheryl Torrance, invited me to photograph an in-store demo event for Manning Canning products. That is when I met Christine Manning for the first time in real life. Previous to meeting Christine we had chatted and shared messages on Facebook and Twitter and I absolutely adored her Spicy Pickled Carrots, which I purchased at The Meat Department. Click on any photo to see a larger version:

Christine is passionate about her products and watching her providing samples and interacting with The Meat Department customers bore out that fact.

Christine started Manning Canning a little over a year ago. Having watched her Nona and her mother in the kitchen gave her the skills to make her own line of jams, jellies, marmalades and pickled items. Christine’s products are currently for sale at The Meat Department, 207 Danforth; The Butcher Shop, 3487 Kingston Road; and Best of Ontario Market, 21 High Street in MacTier.

Christine has a full-time job Monday to Friday and spends her Sundays in the kitchen making her products. On Saturdays she does her in-store demonstrations and also is able to provide customers with Private Preserving Classes. This past Saturday Christine invited me to attend an in-home private class. The classes are a great way to learn the process of canning and it’s a great way to get a bunch of friends together for a canning party.

Prior to the class, Christine asks her customers whether they would like to make jams/jellies or pickled items. Christine brings all the necessary items to your home including fruits, vegetables, herbs, sugar, pots, knives, jars and even a portable hot plate. All you have to provide is your kitchen.

The class I attended was hosted by a husband and wife and they invited six of their friends. The atmosphere was friendly and relaxed and they were all enjoying some refreshments.

Christine began with an outline of the canning process, details about sugar and pectin and the need for sterilization of the canning equipment.

After handing out the Orange Onion Jam recipe, Christine put the guests to work chopping onions and oranges.

It was not all hard work as everyone enjoyed some great conversation and a few laughs.

The cooking process began.

The gang prepared sage and thyme.

The crowd gathered around the stove as we reached a critical stage of stirring, not too fast and not too slow.

Next up was the removal of the sterilized jars from the water bath. Christine made it look so easy with the jar lifter and it took a bit of practice for some to get the hang of it..

Then it was time to get the jam into the sterilized jars.

The rims of the jars had to be wiped clean so that there was no chance for the lid not to seat properly. The lids were applied and the rings were hand tightened. The jars then went back into the simmering water bath for 15 minutes.

Once the jars were removed from the water bath, you could hear the lids pop, meaning that they were perfectly sealed. Everyone received a jar to take home and we had a chance to sample some of the leftover jam. It had a perfect balance of sweet and savoury.

I had so much fun attending this class and it was good to see all the husbands in attendance. It was equally interesting for the men as for the women. An in-home class would be a great idea as part of a bridal shower or a pre-cursor to a dinner party with friends. Please contact Christine for more information and you can follow her on Twitter @misscackles as well.

Click this video link to see Christine in action.

Thank you, Christine, for a wonderful and educational afternoon!

Photography and 2013

Tags

career, compensation, courses, photography, school

As we are now well into 2013, I have to reflect on a photographic event that I covered in 2012 and what I am going to do differently in 2013.

First of all, this will probably be my only blogpost of 2013 that does not contain a single photograph. Instead, I want to express my feelings about photography both as a hobby and as a source of income.

I love photography. It is one of the best life-long hobbies that anyone could aspire to embrace. Having said that, it is not a great way to make a living unless you are really, really, really good!

I worked for a major Canadian camera retail company for ten years. Many of our commercial customers were community colleges all over the country that taught photography. On one hand it was great doing business with these colleges for the benefit of my company, but on the other hand it was sad to see what was going to happen to all those young shiny faces that were aspiring to be photographers. The reality is that despite the thousands of people coming out of the community colleges every year, very few of them would ever have a successful career in that field.

I still cannot come to grips with some people who wake up at the end of high school and then tell their parents that “I want to become a photographer.” And to the unfortunate parents who are going to fork over two years of tuition plus lab fees and equipment, it seems to be an outrageous situation. You have to know that your child has a slim margin of making it as a photographer. The world needs more bricklayers, plumbers, electricians, car mechanics, policemen, firemen—but not so many photographers.

I have this jaded opinion because my father was a professional photographer, and when I was eight years old, he bought me my first camera, a Kodak Brownie 127 which I still have. And I’m proud to say that the photography skills that I learned from my father have rubbed off on my son who, despite the odds, is making a fantastic career with his skills. And on the other side of the camera, my daughter has become a phenomenal model for the camera.

Last November I attended a very pleasant charity event for the Movember moustache for prostate cancer awareness. I brought my camera and created this blogpost:

http://petervisima.wordpress.com/2012/11/30/amsterdam-brewery-brewstache/

At that event I met a gentleman who had a genuine fondness for and dedication to fine beer. We got to chatting and he said that he may be interested in my photographic skills for a shoot in the not-too-distant future. I gave him my business card and he contacted me about a month after the beer event.

He wanted me to do some environmental portraits of him and his team having a business meeting at his downtown Toronto office. My compensation was to be some unusual and exotic beers that I had never seen before.

I met the gentleman at his office in downtown Toronto. He gave me free reign of his office, letting me photograph anything that I wanted. After the one-hour session of photography, my client and I sat in his boardroom where we shared ONE BOTTLE OF DANISH BEER. Yes, it was good beer, but after a thank you and goodbye, we were done. Somehow I felt so violated. It was totally my fault for not having pre-negotiated exactly what my services would cost.

Let’s just say that this gentleman was worth a great deal of money. For the services I provided him with, he should have easily paid $450 for my on-site photographic session.

I emailed him my thoughts about the situation and to date, I have heard nothing from him. So I have learned a valuable lesson: don’t ever sell yourself short. He has received none of my photographs from that session, and until we decide on an appropriate agreement of compensation, he never will see those photos.

And so here we come full circle about the subject of photography. Just because everyone on the planet now has a camera on their phone does not make them a photographer. The food bloggers out there who continue to take out-of-focus, terribly exposed and overall horrible photos need to stop. Just as anything in life, do it right or don’t do it at all, or please, please do everyone a favour and don’t post it. Or at very least, please fix the exposure and if it’s not too much trouble, straighten the damn horizon!

I cannot understand where everything has suddenly gone wrong and the entire world seems to think that every photograph taken on your phone is worthy of posting.

My photographer friends and family will totally understand where I am coming from. The others will not.

End of rant, and I promise that fabulous photos from 2013 will follow.

Peter no longer works for free, nor should you.

2012 in review

Tags

blog, blogging, Peter Visima, Report, statistics, WordPress

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for my blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

600 people reached the top of Mt. Everest in 2012. This blog got about 3,000 views in 2012. If every person who reached the top of Mt. Everest viewed this blog, it would have taken 5 years to get that many views.

Click here to see the complete report.

Withrow Park Winter Market

Tags

apple strudel, Bowden Street, Brian Hamiln, Corey, dairy cheese, Danforth Church, farmers markets, Farmers' Market, food, Green Gate Farms, Greenwood Organic Farm, honey, Monforte Dairy, Patrick & Sean, Roberta Stimac, Saucier Foods, St. John's Bakery, Tiffinday, Tina, Toorshi Foods, Weber's Natural Meats, Winter Market, Withrow Park

Before I retired this year, I was never able to attend our local Farmers’ Market in East York because it was held on Tuesdays from 8 am to 2 pm. Since I was at work, I always missed the market. But starting in June, I visited the market every Tuesday and took photographs and got to know the wonderful vendors and farmers.

Another great market in our neighbourhood is the Withrow Park Farmer’s Market.

I only  had a chance to visit the Withrow Market on its very last two weeks of the season. I remember visiting the market specifically to get some Monforte Dairy cheese that I needed for a party we were having, and it was a rainy and miserable day in late October. All of the Farmers’ Markets wrap up at the end of October, but Withrow Park had a great idea for a Winter Market. Starting on November 6th, they held a Winter Market every Tuesday from 3 pm to 7 pm and yesterday (December 18) was the last market for the year. The Winter Market moved indoors to the second floor of the Danforth Church at the corner of Danforth and Bowden Street.

I made a point of visiting the market yesterday to take some photographs and pick up a few goodies. The vendors varied from week to week, but here are the vendors that were in attendance yesterday. Just inside the door I met Chef Roger from Saucier Foods with a great selection of French pastries (click on any photo to see a larger version):I bought two of Chef Roger’s apple strudel cakes shown above in the second photo.

My friends at Monforte Dairy seem to be at every market that I visit. I have met Tina at many markets around the city and she was at Withrow yesterday:

This is Monforte’s awesome aged Toscano—our favourite!

St. John’s Bakery was here with lots of great looking breads:

Toorshi Foods had some delicious looking pickled items:

Next was Green Gate Farms who had fresh and frozen beef and pork:

I bought a beautiful fresh boneless pork loin roast

Kind Organics had all kinds of greens and sprouts:

Patrick and Sean were providing hot beverages including apple cider:

Weber’s Natural Meats had fresh and frozen products and eggs:

Tiffinday was offering vegan Indian prepared foods:

Greenwood Organic brought freshly dug carrots and potatoes along with spicy arugula, squash and olive oil soaps:

Brian Hamlin was presenting all kinds of honey and wax products. He has numerous beehives all around the city and they provide honey with different flavours. He has a hive on the roof of my old alma mater, U of T, Scarborough College campus:

I had a great time at this market and met some new friends. It’s also worth mentioning that the market is  ”kid” friendly. They have an adjoining room where face painting and crafts are offered while Mom and Dad shop the market.

My thanks to Roberta and Corey for inviting me and I certainly look forward to visiting Withrow Market in the Spring on Saturdays.

Please follow Withrow Market on Twitter @WithrowMarket and on Facebook.

Fancy Franks

Tags

326 College, beef ribs, Dave O'Ball, dijon mustard, Fancy Franks, food, Frankaphone, Franko Fancy-Aano, Franks Got Seoul, gourmet, honey dijon, hot dog, kensington market, lunch, Nancy Visima, restaurants, Vicky Weiss

Today Nancy and I met up with two food bloggers, Dave O’Ball and Vicky Weiss. We had never met Dave or Vicky up until today, but they are both very active on the social media channels and I have been “talking” to Vicky for many months on Twitter.

Here is Vicky’s website: http://momwhoruns.com/

And here is Dave’s website: http://www.davwudsfoodcourt.blogspot.ca/

Vicky suggested we meet at Fancy Franks located at 326 College Street just east of Augusta on the north side. Their website is under construction but they are on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/FancyFranksGourmetHotDogs and Twitter @FancyFranks.

Click on any photo to see a larger version:

We each ordered a different gourmet hot dog and then Dave did a masterful job with a plastic knife in dividing each hot dog into four portions. The first one was Nancy’s and my favourite and it’s my bad I didn’t catch the name! It was covered in Panko breadcrumbs and deep fried:

Next up was the Frankaphone which contained smoked gruyere, horseradish cheddar, curds and honey dijon mayo. This one was quite tasty:

Next up was Franko Fancy-Aano that had prosciutto, reggiano cheese, arugula and balsamic dijon mustard. It was a bit on the salty side due to the prosciutto and we all agreed a tad dry:

And the last one was Franks Got Seoul which had Korean beef ribs, kimchi, sesame seeds and scallions. Very tasty:

Our dessert came as two serving of doughnuts with various toppings. They were outstanding and still warm:

The franks varied anywhere from $6 to $9. Some people would suggest that the prices are outrageous for a hot dog, but we felt these prices were not unreasonable:

The service was fast and friendly and you could also add numerous toppings to any of their gourmet hot dogs. We did hear that their poutine is excellent and a gentleman sitting next to us was having an amazing chili dog—the aroma was fantastic.

Would we go back? Absolutely! If you find yourself in Kensington Market and decide you want a gourmet hot dog, head on up Augusta to College and visit Fancy Franks.