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...

Wellington Gastropub

It took 3 attempts to finally get a table at Wellington Gastropub. With each reservation rejection, my determination grew stronger.


I recently learned that a gastropub is essentially a pub that takes its food up a notch. There is no doubt that the Gastropub's food would not be confused with typical pub fare.

For starters, we ordered a tomato appetizer. It included heirloom tomatoes, over a bed of lettuce (I think baby spinach and arugula), with small cubes of feta, home made croutons and a oil-based vinaigrette.


The clear and intended star of this dish is the tomato. I hope I get to eat more delicious heirlooms before the season is over.

For the main, I had a chicken breast, with the drumette of the wing attached. It was served with a corn relish. The "relish" was primarily corn, but also included leaks, mushrooms and peppers. It tasted good, but overall, was a lot of corn.


I fell in love with one corner of the restaurant where a large shelf of preserves is housed. I now want to replicate it at home...on every wall. This picture, is just part of the shelf:

source

Overall, we enjoyed our meal. The fresh, local ingredients certainly were the stars. The food was nicely prepared -- it's clear that quality product and service is important to the Gastropub.

I must admit, I was surprised by the atmosphere. I didn't really find it to be a very pub-like atmosphere. I had the image of a traditional pub (dark wood, subdued lighting, etc.), with better than typical pub food, in my mind before going. But, the Gastropub seemed more like a restaurant than a pub. Also, I would have liked to see some wine options that are not quite so expensive (bottles of red wine start at $38 and increased quickly and steadily from there).

Capital Cupcake Camp 2.0

I may be biased by sugar, but I think one of the most exciting food events in Ottawa is Capital Cupcake Camp.

Last year was the first year for this event and I had a lot of fun volunteering for it. More than 600 cupcake enthusiasts attended, almost 3400 cupcakes were donated, and over $2000 was raised for Ottawa-based non-profit organization Woman Alive/Femme Active Program. Check out the Flickr pool from the event.
Now it's time for the second year of this event: Capital CupcakeCamp 2.0

The massive sugar rush returns Sunday, September 26, 2010. This time, with a larger venue, more cupcakes, and more people.

This year, proceeds will be shared between Woman Alive/Femme Active Program and the Youth Services Bureau.

Here's how it works:

Event-wise, bakers bring 24 cupcakes of any one flavour to Ottawa City Hall (110 Laurier Avenue W.) at 11:30 am. There, they will be put on display for tasters who will arrive at 1:00 pm. Tasters will roam around the City Atrium and trade in tickets for cupcakes. Bakers will have the opportunity to address the crowd. Competitive bakers can enter cupcakes in a contest that will be judged by celebrity Ottawa judges.

For the contest, there is a PRO Category. If you make money from your food creations (cupcakes or otherwise), organizers ask you register as a PRO. PRO winners have the right to use the "2010 Winner" logo.

Contest Categories:

• Most Amazingly Decorated
• Best Filling in a Cupcake
• Best Vegan
• Tastiest Twist on a Traditional
• Best Savoury Cupcake

PRO Contest Categories:

• Best Overall
• Best Decorated
• Most Original

This year's judges:

• Executive Chef Michael Blackie of the NAC's Le Cafe (53 Elgin Street) and Host of Food Network Canada's Chef Off!
• Junior Pastry Chef Lynne Frappier of The Whalesbone Oyster House (430 Bank Street) and local food blogger
• Alan Neal of CBC Radio 1's All in a Day
• Kady O'Malley of CBC Inside Politics

The event will be hosted by China Doll of Shanghai Restaurant (651 Somerset Street W.).

Registration has already opened for bakers and tasters, via eventbrite.

Amateur baker tickets are $5/each and come with 4 complementary tasting tickets. PRO baker tickets are $20/each and also come with 4 complementary tasting tickets. Tasting tickets are $10.

Tasters will exchange their eventbrite ticket for 4 cupcake tickets, which entitles them to a minimum of 4 cupcakes. That is, with one caveat. Should you prefer not to gorge yourself with cupcakes in one sitting, bring a box or Tupperware that fits 4 cupcakes for takeaway.

Milk and coffee will be served. Milk was graciously donated by Cochrane's Dairy and the Flour Shoppe (617 Bank Street). Coffee was graciously donated by Ten Thousand Villages.

Particulars:

• To register as a baker or a taster, click here for the eventbrite site.
• For the media release, click here.
• To get the latest on Capital CupcakeCamp follow @capitalcupcake on Twitter or join the Capital CupcakeCamp Facebook Group.

Credit for this post goes to Don from foodiePrints.