Pam R

I've had vegan chocolate mousse. Silken tofu blitzed in a food processor - add some melted bittersweet chocolate, maybe some sugar or a bananna. When you're shopping for ingredients if you look for kosher items, beside the kosher symbol if there is a 'p' it means the item is pareve - meaning it's neither milk not meat. You'd have to check ingredient lists for eggs, honey and fish though. Make a crumble - whatever fruit you like, then a mix of oatmeal, flour, sugar and margarine on top - yes margarine. Margarine is the answer to much of my non-dairy baking needs. There are certain brands that are completely non-dairy... but I don't know if you have access to Fleishmans or Mothers.

hmmm,... that's how I like it too. I'd rather think of it as tasty... rather than sick

Yes. We have a lot of ethnic grocers, but nothing like whole foods or trader joes. I'm afraid our issue is that we're just not big enough. I don't know how large a city must be before some of these places open up, but I don't think we're there. Plus, our city has a reputation for being a 'wholesale' town. I think some companies have the idea that the locals wouldn't pay for good stuff - but as we get more and more 'high-end' restaurants, people want to be able to get the goods. As well, I don't think Tarader Joe's is outside of the US. It's tough living so close to the US, getting all of our TV (and commercials) from the US but not being able to access anything. Whole Foods is open in Vancouver and Toronto - I need to fly 3 hours or drive 24 to be there. Yes. Any of 'em would do.

I've grilled pizza several times using my usual crust recipe. Worked well. Favorite toppings: basil pesto and roasted/grilled veggies Caramelized onions, mixed roasted mushrooms, feta or chevra, thyme or oregano. I was thinking about doing this for the weekend... Now I really think I will.

Neither do I... that's why I'm lucky to live in a country that doesn't have whipped, airy ones.

For a while we would make lemon cups for lemon sorbet at weddings. It wasn't out of the norm to make 350 at a time. Obviously citruc fruits are easy to hollow out and make good cups... not very original though.

I just read in the Baker's Journal about a bakery out East (I can't remember if it was in PEI, Newfoundland, NB or NS) that intentionally burns a percentage of their bread loaves because the customers demand it. Apparently there is a tradition of eating black bread and the locals want it.

According to the front page of today's Winnipeg Free Press the first load of live Manitoba cattle crossed the border to the US yesterday. Things are not back to the way they once were ... but it's a good sign. Hopefully other countries will allow live cattle in again.

Unless they are the freshwater variety.. like the ones they talk about here. They used to be sold to the major gefilte fish manufacturers in the US... then the Freshwater fish board lost its contract and the fish were left on the ice to rot. Apparently they are one of the most common fish found in the southern part of Lake Manitoba. Nice story. Nevertheless.... perhaps there is more than one type of mullet?

If I'm not mistaken, Mullet was often used to make gefilte fish. I believe it's a freshwater whitefish which is actually found in Lake Winnipeg. A quick google search though seems there may be a variety of fishes that go by mullet.

I hope it's better than the Crystal Light Raspberry

I actually get basil in 1-2 lb. quantities, make a couple litres of it and freeze it. You're not supposed to freeze it with the cheese in it - but I have and there's been no problem with it. You could easily make it in the morning and eat it later that evening .... or the next day. It will retain it's bright green colour and fresh flavor (I think the oil does that?).

I'm envious of your farmer's market and local orchards! Everything looks great. Pesto - easy to make, but I don't have quantities for you. I use a food processor and start by blitzing a ton of basil and some fresh, crushed garlic (I like a lot of garlic). When it's chopped, I add some pine nuts, salt, black pepper and as the machine continues to blitz away, slowly pour in olive oil until it's the consistency I want. It goes into a bowl and then I stir in grated parmesan. C'est tout. Taste and adjust seasoning.

I like to make sweet potato latkes - shredded sweet potato, red potato (in a 2:1 ratio), onions, salt, pepper, egg, flour/matzoh meal. Fried crisp on both sides. I've also made a variation with grated apples and cinnamon in it. Also like to make soup - and a couple of times a week I cube it up, toss with olive oil, kosher salt and black pepper and roast until caramelized. Love them.

A couple of years ago they found nasty things in the tap water here. Plus, I don't like the taste of my tap water. Since then I've had a water cooler. I don't really have a favorite bottled water, but I dislike a few of them. If I lived in a place with great tap water (somewhere like Hinton Alberta where is comes right from Glacier runoff) I would drink tap water. Am I the only one who lives somewhere with not so fabulous tap water?

hmm... did you grow up in the North End?

What's wrong with perogies? We do happen to have some darn good ones here. We also have a great french area - home to the largest french community outside of Quebec. Visit St. Boniface and have a slice of tortiere, sugar pie or enjoy dinner at le Vieille Gare. Not all of the chinese food is mediocre - visit Chinatown for a dimsum brunch (or my favorite place in St. Vital). While you're at it try one of the Thai, Japanese, Filipino, Vietnamese, Caribbean, Israeli, Lebanese, Moroccan, Etheopian, Indian restaurants or Jewish Delis. Take advantage of the great Greek restaurants that dot the city. Whether the menu says greek food or it's one of the many greek burger joints, we're lucky to have them. Visit the Fort Garry hotel on a Sunday for brunch - or sit in the glass room at the Assiniboine Park's Tavern in the Park. It's food is as good as the scenery - brunches or dinners here are winners. Try 529 Wellington, Gluttons, Amicis or Sydney's at the Forks for some high-end fare. When you're done with the stuffy stuff, take a trip to the north part of the city and check out which famous people have had a hot dog at Kelekis. Don't be offended if the lady at the register yells at you - it means she likes you. Go even further north and catch your own dinner - the catfish are apparently jumping into fisherman's arms this year. Then try the already mentioned Albert Street burgers or VJ's or the Red Top for some more greasy spoon stuff. Salsbury House is good enough for Burton Cummings - so go try a nip. Let's not forget about Alycia's. I know you said no Perogies - but they're damn good. Pick up some Smoked Goldeye (fresh) and a loaf of City Bread Rye. The pumpernickle ain't bad either. If you're lucky enough to be here the last week of July and the first week of August you can travel the world in 2 weeks, enjoying the foods of each country along the way. That'll be Folklorama - and we'll start another thread about that one. Spend some time on Corydon Ave. If you're here during the summer enjoy the best our Little Italy has to offer on one of the patios. The foods great and the people watching is amazing. Osborne has some good places too. Leave room for dessert and go to Baked Expectations, Just Desserts, the BDI for ice cream in the summer or if you're really lucky Desserts Plus for some "Winnipeg Cheesecake", Shmoo or other cake or torte. This is just a tiny sampling of the Winnipeg food scene. They used to say that there were more restaurants in Winnipeg per capita than any other city in North America. There's so much to explore - we haven't even talked about places out of the city limits. If you still don't think it's worth coming to Winnipeg, so be it. That just means those of us who know about the jewels of the city will still be able to get a table

Something I wanted to mention earlier but forgot is the great prices. To anybody who has never been here before, Winnipeg is one of the least expensive cities in North America that I've been to. While the locals may complain about prices - that's just something we like to do. In reality we know that if we were in Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, New York, LA or any number of other places we'd be paying a lot more for a similar thing. Great place to vacation

I don't think anything could ever be too garlicky. Ever. Rona, St. V. ain't so far for me anymore - chances of my getting there at some point is good. From Garden City I would have said to you "You want me to drive to St. V for dinner?? are you crazy??". Now it feels like it's part of my neighbourhood. Thanks for letting us know about it. What's interesting to me is that the places you frequent are places I've never heard of! I always think of Winterpeg as being a small place, but it's really not. Can't wait to learn about more great places from you.

Kelekis - my mother grew up going there as a young child, which means so did I. It's a Winnipeg institution - good fries. I've never had a hamburger there, just the hot dogs. When I was in high-school my friends and I would go in for lunch every once in a while and we were once yelled at by one of the sisters (it's owned and run by a family) for laughing too much - definately a place with character.

Well, it would be a long walk from Goodies--about an hours walk . It's in St. Vital, south of Bishop Grandin. The ones near Goodies (I'm guessing the Goodies you mention is now Vivere, in Osborne Village) aren't very good. Really bad, actually (in my opinion only--I know a lot of non-Thai people who like those places). ← Goodies now has a place on Erin (or Wall) and Ellice - isn't there a Thai place around there? Obviously not the same one... but I'm sure I've passed one. Umm.... I'm a non-Thai person... and I like Bangkok Thai - please forgive me!

Yes, it is available for purchase. If you're asking where..... Chapters, McNally - amazon (actually, I think almost any online retailer has it).

I've been in a couple of times and discussed (not with the owner) doing some recipes from my cookbook - since it's all soup I'll get in touch with them for the fall/winter. I'd love to do one there if they'll have me! Our own store is.... waiting. We moved all of our stuff over a couple of weeks ago but we're waiting on a large walk-in freezer (it needs to be outside of the building so it's taking a little longer than a regular one), walk in coolers, air-make-up unit, hoods, some construction... lots to do. At the moment all we're selling is frozen, raw poultry and meats - and we're pretty much in chaos. Hopefully we'll have a kitchen by late-August - though it's looking like it'll be closer to September. Then the plans are to continue to sell all of our kosher products but expand that area (grocery items, lots of Israeli stuff - as well as gifts) and to have take-out foods available (we have 3 showcases ready to be filled!). The take-out will be both desserts and traditional Jewish stuff (knishes, vernekes, blintzes, chopped liver, deli, etc.) as well as salads and whatever else we can come up with! I'm tired jsut thinking about it all.

awww... I think he had a little crush on her

I was at a wedding at the Fort Garry last night - we had the 'where to get a good dessert debate' again (it's a never ending debate for us). I wish we had a kitchen so you could try some of ours! Will you be back next summer?