A Spot of Tea for 200

The English Countryside themed table at the Glebe House Tour Tea

When my dear friend and neighbour Suzanne asked me to run a Tea Party for 200 people this Fall, my head caught on fire.  But in a good way.  

Suzanne is the talented chair of Ottawa's Annual Glebe House Tour and the Tea Party is held for the participants at the local community centre mid-way through the tour.

My mind raced - what a chance to roll three of my passions into one:  sharing my tea cup and table ware collection, baking for a big crowd and fund raising for a good cause. 

First step was to recruit BFF and partner in decorative crime, Sean. His expertise with staging and keen eye for design is impeccable. 

 

The English Countryside

We put our heads heads together over the summer and decided to theme each of the 6 tables after a different type of home decor. I developed sweet treats to match each theme, and off we went.

The English Countryside

(Tea Brack Fruit Cake)
 

Asian Influence

(Matcha and Black Sesame Shortbreads)

The 50s

(Apples, Orange Cream-Filled Ginger Sandwiches)

French Provincial

(Macarons, Meringues, Pâte de Fruits)

The Crazy Cat Lady

(Cat Shaped Sugar Cookies)

The Groovy 70s

(Oreos and Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies)

I created special "House Tour" gingerbread caramels and we sprinkled those here and there for everyone to enjoy. 

Like a community barn raising in days gone by, local businesses donated their time and goods, neighbours were asked for favours and husbands and friends were swept into the fray and put to work. Children painted charming pictures of their homes to decorate the room.  Six delightful young women donned aprons to became "Tea Ladies" and helped with the set-up, serving the tea, and the washing up.  If there's one thing I really miss about my old neighbourhood it's the way everyone pulls together for the greater good.  We couldn't have done it without everyone's help.

The tea went smoothly except for one thing:   we didn't count on how hungry (or curious) our guests were.  Here and there people were spotted table hopping, trying each of the different sweets. Truly flattering but, oh dear - we ran out!   Clearly we must make more next year...

Where would you have liked to sit?

Black Sesame and matcha shortbread cookies at the Asian Influence Table

Little friends and Tea Brack cake in the English Countryside table

The 1950s Table

Orange cream filled ginger sandwich cookies at the 1950s Table

French Provincial Table

Pâte de Fruits and Chocolate Hazelnut Macarons at the French Provincial Table

The Crazy Cat Lady

Oh dear,  I think the Crazy Cat Lady is me!

Groovy Baby!  The 70s Table.  Oreos and chocolate chip cookies, natch!

The 70s Table.  That's my own troll doll that I played with in the 70s

A Bright Spark on Sparks

VaVa Vegan's tempting vegan doughnuts at the Sparks Street Farmers' Market

When the new Sparks Street Farmers' Market made its début a few weeks ago, I power walked right over there like nobody's business to take a look.  

When I arrived, I felt like a tourist, with my camera slung around my neck, snapping pictures and staring up at the beautiful, imposing stone buildings, all goo-goo eyed like a foreigner visiting Ottawa for the first time.

The truth is that I can't resist a new farmers' market and Sparks Street has always held a special place in my heart.  

I grew up in Ottawa and when I was a little girl, my dad would pile my sisters and me into the car and off we'd zoom down town to pick up my mother who worked at Metcalfe and Sparks. More often than not, we got there early and my dad would treat us to some freshly roasted giant cashews from the now defunct Morrow's Nut House or if we were really well behaved, we'd score a trip to the Green Dragon Chinese Gift Shop to buy some cheap but fascinating Chinese do-dads. I'm heartened and somewhat amazed to see that it's still there, a bit dustier and more charmingly dishevelled than I remembered it.

 

As an adult, I grew to appreciate the architecture along Sparks Street and I think the buildings are some of the most beautiful and majestic in the city.  In my opinion, with these buildings as a backdrop and the peaceful luxury that only a "pedestrian-only" policy can provide, Sparks Street is a perfect place for a market.

 

An old postcard of Sparks Street, circa 1917.  Note the Vaudeville theatre on the right.  I found this at a flea market

On opening day, there was just a handful of vendors whose booths started at O'Connor and ended at Bank Street. I was happy to see some familiar faces had taken their chances and were giving the new market a go.  

The always charming Mike of Ottawa Valley Honey was there, and when I saw him at the Brewer Park Market a few days later, he told me that business had been both brisk and profitable. Just Farms, Hearty Bakery and Art is In were there as was Theressa Cummings of VaVa Vegan with her tempting vegan sweets and clever display.

Rob and Ken of Trie

There were two new faces, Rob and Ken of Trie who brought a portable crepe making cart along with a supply of fresh and dried mushrooms and unusual wood products.  When I arrived they were in the midst of whipping up some buckwheat crêpes filled with cheese and arugula. They told me that as the season progresses they will be selling their own home grown hazelnuts, nectarines and more mushrooms.  I bought some of their fresh shiitake which looked as though they'd just fallen from an illustration.  They were delicious grilled. 

I think the Sparks Street market is off to a good start.  I remember the Lansdowne Farmers' Market in its infancy when there were just a few stands and a handful of customers clustered  around the entrance to the Cattle Castle and look at it now.  Who would have predicted it would become the huge hit that it is today?

Will Sparks Street ever become a destination market?  Perhaps.  I think it's perfectly situated for residents who live nearby in the condos that are seemingly popping up everywhere in the down town core.  If it's to succeed I think it needs many more vendors.  

For now though, I imagine that curious tourists and people who work down town would be happy to pay a visit and buy all those good, locally made and grown goodies right on their stone doorsteps.  

You should check it out too.

Fresh, pristine, shiitake mushrooms

Trie's dried forest mushrooms

Popsicles and ice cream

Spring onions from Just Farms

Ottawa Valley Honey

Art is In bread

 

Sparks Street Farmers' Market

between O'Connor and Bank Streets

Thursday and Fridays 10am - 5pm

Look Sharp!

Maybe it's bad Feng Shui to write a post about sharp knives after not posting for yonks but I'll take my chances since it's all for a good cause.  In this case, to let everyone know that KnifeWear, a Calgary company who specializes in hand-made Japanese knives is setting up shop in the Glebe in Ottawa and they'll be offering a proper "by hand" knife sharpening service using whetstones.  Rejoice!

Last Thursday, Jennifer Heagle of the food oasis,  The Red Apron tweeted that she was hosting a knife sharpening demonstration given by Heather of Knifewear.  I promptly cleared my schedule.

If you cook, you know what a pleasure it is to use a sharp knife and how a dull one can turn your time in the kitchen into drudgery.  

I own two Japanese folded steel knives but I've always cheated when it comes to sharpening them.  Like a negligent parent, I use a ceramic sharpening cone or sometimes, (oh the shame!) a steel, so I jumped at the chance to learn about sharpening my knives the proper way.

I don't know about you but I've had my share of knife sharpening nightmares.  First there was the heavy-handed guy in Canada who drives around the neighbourhood with his "grindstone in a truck" sharpening service ringing a bell while people come running with their dull blades. He cold-heartedly took the life of my favourite bread knife.   More recently there was the knife sharpening reprobate in France who ruined my favourite Wusthof chef's knife. I had the naïve confidence of a newcomer that being French, they'd know how to sharpen a chef's knife.  Wrong!  I almost wept when my beautiful knife came back a week later, the once gentle curve of the edge was ground flat, making it a useless piece of junk. Live and learn and never again!

But I digress...  Let us return to our happy demonstration...

Heather of Knifewear brought a covetous selection of Japanese knives with her.  Each of them was created by a different process and after a brief explanation of how the different knives were made, their composition, virtues and disadvantages, we got down to it.  

Out came her portable knife sharpening kit that consisted of a towel-covered board suspended over a plastic box filled with water.  Submerged in the water were her whetstones, from fine to ultra-fine.  On dry land she had a ceramic steel, a strop, and a water bottle from which she periodically squirted water over the whetstones.

Rubber finger pads, mandatory.  Calibrating the correct sharpening angle with 2 pennies and a nickel, priceless

While we watched and listened, Heather explained the sharpening process and the rigorous training she and her colleagues underwent in the hands of a demanding Japanese master. 

To begin the sharpening process, she covered her thumbs with rubber finger pads and placed two pennies and a nickel in the middle of the first of two whetstones. She positioned the knife over the coins which served as a guide to calibrate the correct angle for sharpening.  Then she rested the back of the knife blade between two rows of the raised dots on her thumb pad as a guide to keep her fingers and the knife at the correct angle for the duration of the sharpening process. Then she removed the coins.  How clever was that? 

Over and over again, she gently and skilfully slid the knife, back and forth from tip to heel on the first whetstone and then the other.  The first whetstone had a grit number of 4,000 (naka-to or very fine)  and the second, 8,000 (shiage-to or ultra-fine).  She finished the process by running the knife over a strop.

The second, finer whetstone and stropping

Testing sharpness.  A soundless swoosh through paper

With the sharpening and stropping done, she lifted a piece of newspaper and while she sliced soundlessly through it, I imagined what a pleasure that knife would be to use. As luck would have it, were about to find out.  Heather invited us to try the knives she brought and Jennifer put out a box of sacrificial fruits and vegetables.  We all chose a knife and set to slicing, dicing, and chopping.

The lovely hand-forged Sakura (cherry blossom) knife

After watching Heather's demonstration I'm not sure if I'd ever attempt to sharpen my Japanese knives on my own.  What I learned is that knife sharpening may look easy when done by a skilled professional but I think I'll chicken out and leave it to them.  And seeing as their new shop will be opening in early July just down the street, why not?  They also offer a knife repair service. 

I wonder if they can fix my Wusthof knife?

 

Knifewear will be opening in mid-July on Bank Street between Third and Fourth Avenue in the Glebe.  

Sipping Sake in Toronto

Our trip to Toronto this summer started out in misery when the air conditioning broke in our train car and by the time we arrived we were cranky, miserable, tired, and very hungry.

Ki's vast sake menu

Hubby and I debated dinner options and when he suggested modern Japanese restaurant Ki for dinner, I threw on some lipstick and off we went.  A soothing setting and pretty food was just what we needed to change our luck and put our weekend back on track, so to speak.

Three of many in our sake tasting

It turned out to be a brilliant choice.  The setting at Ki was chic, the dinner was delicious, the service was skilled, but by far the star of the show was Michael Tremblay.  Michael is Ki's Sake Sommelier.

Hubby is a big fan of sake.  On our last trip to Tokyo, he sampled many and loved a few but it was a mixed blessing. Even though we were being served memorable sake by Japanese experts, because of the language barrier we learned nothing about them.  Sadly, our Japanese is limited to, "do you speak English?", "hello," "goodbye," "it tasted good," "excuse me," and "thank you."

So here was Michael, an English speaking sake sommelier, and he was willing and able to share his vast knowledge with us.   We absorbed both his sake and his expertise like sponges.

Izumi president Ken Valvur

During dinner, hubby sipped things both rare and delicious, all the while discussing  the merits of each.  We've never met anyone as knowledgeable nor as enthusiastic as Michael. This was amazingly good fortune.

When we were about to call it a night, Michael gave us a final sake hot tip:  the Ontario Spring Water Sake Company or "Izumi" in Japanese, was producing some excellent sake out of Toronto's Distillery District, just a kilometre or so from where we were sitting right now. 

Of course the next morning we zipped right over.

A tasting flight

When we arrived at Izumi, President and founder, Ken Valvur was there taking a break between conducting personal tours so he told us about his sake and how it's made.

Izumi started operations in the winter of 2011 but with brilliant foresight, before making his first bottle, Mr Valvur sought the advice of master award winning sake brewmaster, Yoshiko Takahashi of Nagano.  She spent time at Izumi as an advisor, training staff and setting the operation on the right path.  Japan's Miyasaka Brewing Company, who has been brewing sake since the mid-1600's, served as consultants as well.  Such a depth of expertise at the outset could only portend good things.

We hadn't booked a tour in advance so we were content to sit at the tasting bar where hubby sipped his way through a "Tasting Flight" or two, each consisting of three different sakes.

Arabashiri "free run" sake

He described each as different and delicious in subtly different ways but he had a clear favourite:  the Arabashiri #23.  

We learned that the process of making the Arabashiri #23 was different from the rest.  The secret lies in the last step of the sake making process when the mixture of rice and liquid called moromi is placed in a cloth bag. The cloth bag is then placed in a press and pressure is applied to extract the liquid from the rice.

Before the bag is compressed, the liquid that runs freely from the cloth bag beforehand is called arabashiri.

Waste not, want not.  Leftover paste from the sake making process

Perhaps it was the sake talking, but when hubby sampled the Arabashiri #23, he heard notes, not words.  He described the sake in the tasting flights as skilled solo artists but the Arabashiri #23 as a symphony:  sweet, balanced and harmonious.

Naturally, we bought a few bottles to take home and share with friends.

If you'd like to sample or buy Izumi's arabashiri, you should plan your visit to coincide with their pressing days.  It's unpasturized and has a short shelf life so tempus fugit and follow their twitter feed. 
 

There was something for both of us at Izumi.  Before we left, I poked around the sake cooler and discovered little containers of sake kasu which is the ground, fermented,  boozy rice paste left over from pressing the maromi mixture.  I bought some to take home and play with in the kitchen.

When our weekend began so badly we thought that all was lost.  So Michael and Ken, thank you for resuscitating it with sake.

The tasting bar

 

The Tin Barn Market

This summer after the sad news that a few of our favourite flea markets had closed, BFF Sean and I pulled out road maps, filled up the gas tank and sought out new territory to indulge in our all day Sunday, flea market and thrift shop bargain hunting marathons.

This is how we discovered the beautiful town of Almonte, about 30 minutes from Ottawa.  For a town with a population of about 5,000, it has a remarkable number of great antique shops and flea markets, and it's here where we bought some of our favourite vintage finds of the season.

Most of Almonte's antique shops are speckled along  picturesque Mill Street, and this is where Sean and I discovered The Tin Barn Market.

We both just fell in love with this shop and the gracious and welcoming  Errin.

Owners Errin Stone & Vicki Veenstra opened their charming pop up last year in a space that was formerly Baker Bobs who has moved his operation next door. Talk about good karma.

They've themed their shop, "Create. Re-purpose. Re-invent. LOVE again," and true to that, their shop is filled with unique and interesting antiques with new and  re-purposed items like soaps and jewellery sprinkled here and there.

Both Vicki and Errin seem to have a gift for finding just the right thing and when you poke around, you can tell they put a lot of thought and effort into the treasures they put on their shelves.  I want it all!

Whether it's the natural light in their shop or how the items are arranged, I find the shop somehow compellingly photogenic and soothing.

A few weeks ago they posted on their Facebook that their shop is no longer a pop up - it's now permanent - so who knows what goodies will make their way there and how their shop will evolve?

To quote the Michelin Guide,  it's "worth a special journey!"