Westfest & Baby Knit

Weekends can be a tough balance of trying to take in as many local events and gatherings with friends as possible and fitting in E's naps.  When E was younger, she would regularly fall asleep in a carrier or in someone's arms while we were out.  But, now that she is becoming more aware of her surroundings (and dogs going for walks with their owners), naps on the go are pretty rare.

It was looking like we might have to miss out on Westfest this year, but we managed to squeeze in a walk up and down the festival area.  Westfest is a free festival in Westboro that has grown every year and just had its 10th anniversary. During the day, most of the focus seemed to be on activities for kids and local stores advertising/selling their products.  At night, the focus shifts toward musical performances.  

Here are just a few shots we took while walking up and down the 14 block strip:

These guys were out advertising the Star Wars Identities exhibit at the Canadian Aviation and Space Museum, which will be in town until September 2nd.

I am always attracted to fruit-filled juices.  I need to find a see-through carafe and an occasion to make something like this.

I'm guessing this seat was a product of the recent Knit in Public day.  Hopefully the city isn't too eager to remove it.  

I definitely want to check out the Ottawa Turkish Festival on July 20-21.

After opening in the Byward Market a few years ago, The Cupcake Lounge has just opened its second location in Westboro.  I guess they're doing something right!

After Wesfest, we attended a friend's shower.  Here is E modelling the baby leg warmers I made for a friend's baby.

Baby leg warmers might be up there as one of my favourite things to knit for a baby.  It's a relatively fast knitting project, but is one of the longest-lasting wearable knits you can make for a baby.  They'll fit most babies from 3 months to 2 years.

Zen Kitchen

Zen Kitchen opened in Ottawa about a year ago and people have been raving about the restaurant ever since.

I'm not usually one to seek out vegan food, but when you know the people making it really care about food -- you can't help but want to jump on the gluten free, vegetarian, raw (if desired), whole food bandwagon.

I joined two friends at the restaurant on a nice day to try out Zen Kitchen's brunch menu.

One of my friends ordered the gourmet salad with organic greens, spiced pepitas, dengaku tofu skewers, with soup. The salad was fresh and flavourable.


Another friend ordered the breakfast burrito, with scrambled tofu, market vegetables, Mornay sauce, tomatillo salsa and spicy rice. I tried some and thought it tasted good.

I think my friend was still hungry after eating it though.


I had the house granola, local seasonal fruit, vanilla bean cream, served with lemon scone and berry jam. I thought my dish was really pretty. The overall flavour and texture were good. It also included a scone and banana bread, with house-made vegan butter. The banana bread was good, but dense. It benefited from the butter.

In terms of the scone, it wasn't my favourite. I think it just needed more sugar and something to moisten it up a bit. That's just me though.


The service was helpful, friendly and not intrustive. Caroline, the chef, came out to the table to say hello and see how we liked the food.

Overall, it was really a good experience. So much so that I'm going back for dinner soon.

Check out Carole and Dave's (the owners) show that aired on The W Network here.

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I was also happy to also see Zen Kitchen at Field of Feasts.


They made vegetarian burgers. The bread was excellent and flavour combination was good.


The Table, a vegetarian restaurant in Ottawa, also had a interesting collection of options. The salad was not a bad idea, in theory, but the weather wasn't cooperating that day and there was lettuce flying everywhere.


Field of Feasts was quite a while ago. I had mixed feelings about the event, but would be open to going again if the venue and weather looked good. I was very impressed with the sustainable approach. But, I did find that there was minimal interaction with the chefs and farmers. I think there would be several ways to promote greater interaction between the farmers and event-goers (e.g., presentations, classes, greater online awareness about the farms, etc.), but the venue had to be different (or at least set up differently).



I'm sure if I had gone with Giz, I would have at least been witness to more interaction with the farmers. Every week she comes home with new stories and interactions from the market.

Savour Stratford: Part I

A couple of years ago, for our birthdays (which are 3 days apart), Giz and I went to Prince Edward County for their festival.

This year, we decided to go to Stratford, to partake in some of the Stratford Shakespeare Festival and Savour Stratford.


We arrived in time to try out the "VQA Wine and Chocolate Tasting". Chris Guilliani from Chateau des Charmes Vineyard in Niagara and Kristene Steed of Rheo Thompson Candies in Stratford walked us through the chocolate and wine pairings.





Both Giz and I were really impressed with the tasting. For only $15, you get 5 pieces of chocolate and 6 glasses of wine. Not to mention the educational information about how to properly sample chocolate (letting it melt in your mouth) along with the wine. In the video below, Chris is making a compelling case for buying VQA wines:



Here is some more information about VQA wine..

Every VQA wine meets the following standard:

Wine must be made from 100% fresh Ontario grown grapes — no concentrates are permitted - Grapes used must meet a quality standard for each variety (measured by natural sugar content in the ripe grapes)
No water can be added in the winemaking process
Labels must be truthful and accurately represent the wine in the bottle
All wines except for sparkling wines must be vintage dated and meet vintage requirements
All wines must be packaged in glass bottles with cork, synthetic or approved screwcap closures
All finished wines are evaluated by an expert taste panel and a laboratory analysis and must meet minimum quality standards before release.

Since I convinced Giz that she shouldn't drink too much of her wine (she was driving...safety first) and let me drink the rest....I was feeling pretty good by the end of the tasting. It worked out perfectly too because I'm about as chatty and ready to talk to strangers after drinking about a bottle of wine as Giz is sober. So, off we went to the farmer's market set up as part of the festival.

The market had a nice variety of produce, preserves, etc...




We saw these neat fruits at Sea Buckthorn Orchard's stand. Apparently, "Sea Buckthorn is rich in many essential nutrients. It contains high concentrations of Vitamin C, carotenoids, fatty acids as well as phytochemicals that are known to have strong antioxidant activity".

What's with all of the Golden Retrievers in Stratford?


Nice to see the Farmers Feed Cities folks there:


Farmer's Feed Cities, an organization with a vision of being a driver in ensuring a thriving and sustainable farming industry in Ontario. They promote a greater understanding of the significant contributions made by farmers to the wellbeing of Ontario.

We still have another post coming, to talk about one of the main events of the festival...

Local Festivities

I interrupt my Wedding Story blogging to update you on my growing collection of summer photos/experiences.

Aside from some overly humid weather that is fairly common in these parts, I love what summer has to offer. Markets are in full swing, the streets are alive, festival galore -- what's not to like?

Some of these pictures date back over month or so now, which is terrible...But wedding activities trumped everything.

Tulip Festival is always a big draw. This festival began as a result of the Dutch royal family sending 100,000 tulip bulbs to Ottawa in gratitude for Canadians having sheltered Princess Juliana and her daughters for three years during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands, in the Second World War. At the beginning of May, the parks are filled with thousands of beautiful tulips, with lots of family activities.

It used to be that the Tulip Festival held daily concerts in Major's Hill Park. But, with the unpredictability of weather at the beginning of May, attendance was low and the festival was closed to bankruptcy. In 2007, the festival was reorganised under new leadership. The festival was redesigned to focus on promoting international friendship, the original symbolic role of the gift of tulips.


Along this theme, the International Pavillion features "stations" where about 20 countries are represented. There you can buy (mainly) overpriced goods and food.

I chose a Turkish dish (forgot the name) -- it was a pita-type dough with a spinach and cheese interior.







My attitude about the pavilion is that it's a nice thing to do, but the quality of food is poor and the prices are high.

But, now that the pavilion is housed at Lansdowne Park, you can combine a day at the Tulip Festival with a day at the Farmer's Market (if you go on a Sunday). That's exactly what I did.

The Farmer's Market guarantees that any products sold there are locally made/grown. In early May, there wasn't a lot of produce to buy, but they did have a little petting zoo and canned food.


There's something I love about taking pictures of goats. They have so much personality, I always want to personify them and imagine what they're thinking (aside from "does this hand have food for me to eat?")

This guy is thinking, "Clearly, I should not be in this pen with the rest of these heathens" (said in the Queen's English).

For a while now, I've been meaning to highlight a local baker/food blogger who has a stand at the market.

Plum Cake brings a mix of seasonal, local products to the market. She offers a variety of tarts, cakes, pastries, and macarons.

Here's a pictures from my trip in May.


I went again today hoping to get some macarons. But learned that they're big sellers. So, I'll have to show up earlier next time. Instead I picked up a Strawberry Tartlette with pink peppercorn meringue (the meringue wasn't photo-worthy after carting it home - definitely stomach-worthy though) and a Rhubarb flan with graham streusel (the white parts are from the other tartlette's meringue)


I really liked the graham streusel. But, my mission for macarons continues.

Over the past five days, one of the big local events has been Ribfest. Ribfest is the closest we have to a Southern USA-style cookoff. Although it doesn't come near to the bbq culture depicted in the south, it's a hugely popular event in Ottawa. For 5 days, Sparks Street is inundated with 11 bbq rib stands.

Here's the signage for some of them:




I find some of the behind the scenes details fascinating...Like this post, written by one of the judges of the competition.

The rib are primarily cooked in a smoker and then moved to the grill for a slathering of bbq sauce just before being sold.




Any guesses for what these guys make in a day? According to the link, above, a smoker holds 162 racks of ribs (this will vary from vendor to vendor) and a vendor fills it up 6 times/day. If all they sold were full racks of ribs, they would make around $20 000 each a day. But, they sell a variety of other items, chicken, pulled pork, half slabs, etc. Quite the money maker.

The first day we went, each person ordered a half slab and we shared each other's to find the best one (of the four). For the most part, they tasted fairly similarly with some variation in the sauce and juiciness.


We also returned yesterday because R wanted to get a pulled pork salad. Not my cup of tea...But, great for meatlovers.