Harvest Wednesday at the Gladstone

What: Second Harvest’s Food Rescue Challenge Kick-off

Who: Bob Blumer, Celebrity Chef & Liam Lewis, 15-year-old Toronto Chef (The Little Locavore)
Time: Wednesday, April 18, 2018 from 7-9pm
Where: The Gladstone Hotel
1214 Queen Street West, Toronto ON

Second Harvest, Canada’s largest food rescue organization, launched For The Love of Food Challenge, a one-month program that challenges Torontonians to reduce their household food waste by 50 per cent.

Commencing on Earth Day, the goal of the program is to educate and raise awareness about household food waste, greenhouse gas emissions and how to make a difference at home.

To kick off the challenge and encourage pledges, Second Harvest, will be hosting a cooking demo
featuring Celebrity Chef Bob Blumer, and 15-year-old, Toronto chef, Liam Lewis. The two will create a dish showcasing a simple way to use leftover food items in your kitchen that would otherwise go to waste.

The kick-off is hosted in collaboration with the Gladstone Hotel’s Grow-Op Exhibit and Harvest
Wednesday’s Food Series launch, a new event that showcases some of the Hotel’s favourite Ontario
producers.

There were many different local Food and Drink Producers on hand for sampling such as Fifth Town Cheese and Chocosol chocolate, Island Oysters, Honey from the Bee Keeper Collective, Alchemy Pickle Co. and Sapsucker water and more.

Website:
https://www.harvestwednesdays.com/

Coming up on August 22nd,  Bob Blumer is back at the Gladstone Hotel for a Harvest Dinner to once again battle food waste, a cause that he is passionate about and which benefits his charity Second Harvest.

For more information and tickets:
https://www.harvestwednesdays.com/tickets/harvest-wednesdays-august-dinner

I also had a quick peek at the Grow Op Installation upstairs at the Gladstone.  I picked up this free plant there.

Mobile Foodie Heaven

A Foodie's dream of an Event happened at the Distillery this past weekend. What was it? Food Truck Eats. What's that? It's the best kind of fast food or Mobile food you can find. Food trucks are a new trend that seems to be sweeping America. There is a new show called Eat St. and another show hosted by Bobby Flay that has different food trucks competing against each other for a big prize. One of the hottest trucks in the US is a Grilled Cheese truck. Well actually 2 trucks and who knows when they will add more. Not just grilled cheese but gourmet versions of grilled cheese and even desert grilled sandwiches like marshmallow and chocolate and who knows what else they add to them. There was a Food Truck called Gorilla Cheese at the Distillery that was easily the longest lineup of all the food trucks in attendance. It was so long that I didn't even attempt to get into that line because I knew the food would be gone before the end of the line was. I saw a lot of happy faces eating their assortment of grilled cheese items.

What did I try? Well lets see.... a Ceviche from CAVA.

It was the first thing i had and it was really refreshing on a hot summer day.

I also had a Po Boy mini fish sandwich which also had some very crunchy tasty fried fish balls.

It was so hot that I got some tasty Peppermint Ice tea twice.. It hit the spot.

Hmmm what else did I have? I tried a pot sticker that was pretty good.

What I didn't try that my foodie friend that I met up with and her friend did try was the very popular Maple Bacon doughnut.

They loved it but about 10 minutes later they started to fade and they were done. They both wanted to have a nap after that donut. So they were pretty much done.

But back to the beginning of the day.... I met up with my friend at the entrance and we were waiting for her friend to show up when she glances over at a parked taxi in front of us and asks "who's that in the cab"? so I glance over and see that it's Bob Blumer who I had just seen the day before at the CNE. Now he is gonna think I am stalking him but no I was there first so obviously I didn't know he was going to show up right in front of where I was standing. But I guess us Foodie people like these cool foodie events.

I have to say that all my friends bailed on showing up at this event even the one guy that lives in the Distillery but my foodie friend Joanne was there right along with me. Last year we went to the T & T night market where we ended up standing in line for over an hour for some skewered beef...was it worth it...well I would have to say sort of. It was good but the line was way too long. The same thing applied to some of the food trucks. The lines were so long and one truck even ran out of food an hour before the event was supposed to end. Officially the event was from 11-3pm but I heard that there were people that paid extra to be the first ones to get food before it opened. Wow.. now that should tell people that this is an event that is in demand. It was part 2 and apparently the first one was well attended as well. There will be a part 3 in October that I plan to arrive earlier for so I can get in that Grilled Cheese Truck lineup this time. I hope this becomes a regular event because there seemed to be a huge crowd of foodies and food bloggers in attendance so I am not the only one posting a blog about this event.

I enjoyed the day and hope to see more food trucks roaming our city on a regular basis real soon.

Gluttony at the CNE

Going to the CNE in Toronto is a yearly exercise in Gluttony. With all the smells of all kinds of food everywhere you go you can't help but eat things you know you shouldn't.

This year was no exception. Some of it was good. Some of it wasn't so good. Case in point... Chicken and Waffles.

This was from the same people that made this year's calorie bursting Krispy Kreme Burger.. No I didn't have one but this is what it looked like.

To redeem the bad waffle I had to get a good waffle with my annual tradition of getting an ice cream waffle sandwich. Now that was a good waffle done right.

Another thing I tried was some pulled pork tacos. Not widely promoted I guess because it's not one of the insane deep fried items but it was very tasty and the taco shell had a great crunch and taste.

But the best thing I ate at the EX was a chicken nugget cooked by the Surreal Gourmet & Glutton for Punishment celebrity chef Bob Blumer. Bob was on hand at Opening day for 2 cooking demos. One at 2 and one at 5pm. I got there late for the first one thanks to the TTC so we decided to check back again on the second one to see what we missed. Glad we did that because we were lucky enough to be sitting in the front row and got to taste the yummy chicken nuggets that Bob cooked as one of his quick and easy food demos. I got a chance to meet and chat with Bob the last time he was here to promote a Second Harvest event at Yonge and Dundas Square where I was able to chat with him for a bit. After his second show I decided to pick up his Glutton for Pleasure cookbook and get it signed since I had the opportunity to do it. I was surprised that he actually remembered meeting me months ago. I took a photo of him with my friend but this photo is of him signing my book. Thanks Bob for a fun show.... oh...and check my next blog post.. saw him the next day too.. No I am not stalking him... I am a foodie and go where the food is... so does he. you have to read the next one to find out where.

Bob also brought his toaster mobile to the show.. well not exactly.

It was a fun day at the CNE.. except for the TTC ride there and back but that's another story.

My advice to you if you visit the EX... either eat before you go so you won't be tempted or go hungry and eat everything that you can't resist and detox the next day. I did part of that.... didn't exactly detox the next day but trying to take it easy on the food now.

There are a lot more celebrity chefs at the EX everyday until the end so go see some food demos in the Direct Energy Building. and don't forget to visit the FOOD Building with your appetite and lots of cash.

Enjoy.

Lunch Money

Bob Blumer and me at Lunch Money Day

A couple of months ago I was working downtown close to Yonge/Dundas Square when they had a lunch time event for Second Harvest at the Square.  Every year Second Harvest does an event called "Lunch Money Day" where they collect donations in subway stations for their programs.  They had 2 locations that they had set up to serve food from local restaurants to collect money for the day and one was at Yonge and Dundas and the other at Union Station.   I went to the first one at Yonge and Dundas during my lunch and for less than $10 which is what most take out lunches in the area would cost I got some hot chili, some fresh soup and some skewered fruit and marshmallows covered in melted chocolate.. yeah that was my favourite part.   But what was also great about the event is what Second Harvest does with the money they collect at these events and at the various subway stations.  Second Harvest is a great charity that has one of the highest returns on donate money.  They provide breakfast programs to kids in schools and to seniors and many other people that are in need of nutritious food.   There are a lot of great restaurants in the city that are donor partners to Second Harvest.  They have great relationships with celebrity chefs and one of them was on hand at Yonge and Dundas and at Union Station to support the Lunch Money Day Event.  

If you don't recognize him in this photo it's Bob Blumer the host of Glutton for Punishment.  I was able to meet him and have a quick chat with him while contributing to a good cause.

One of Second Harvest's other great events they do yearly is "Toronto Taste" a huge event that has local restaurants supplying great food for a great taste of the best restaurants in Toronto.   I have attended 2 Toronto Taste events, once as a Volunteer and once as Media while doing an article for B Magazine the local magazine I write a monthly events listing column and the odd editorial for.   I can tell you that I enjoyed being media at the show and being able to go around and take photos of the amazing dishes some of the greatest chefs in Toronto had provided.

Chef Higgins at Toronto Taste

Second Harvest is a charity I like to support because I feel that everyone has a right to eat good and healthy food and it gives foodies like me a great event to enjoy great food while helping other people that aren't as fortunate to be able to get basic nutritional needs met to give them a better chance to learn and stay healthy.

If you would like to Volunteer, Donate or attend Second Harvest events please check them out here:
http://www.secondharvest.ca