Taste Canada Awards 2015

The Taste Canada Food Writing Awards took place recently at the Arcadian Court in downtown Toronto recently and I was invited to attend the event as a Red Carpet Correspondent with a few fellow food bloggers and other media.

The awards were hosted by Celebrity Chefs Ricardo Larivee and Vikram Vij who were previous Taste Canada Award winners.

Ricardo, Donna Doeher, Vikram Vij

It was a great night that celebrated Canadian cookbook authors and for the first time Food Bloggers were also given awards which were sponsored by Food Bloggers of Canada.   

Food Bloggers of Canada Team

This was the first time they had a red carpet for the award nominees and having been there for the first time last year when they didn't have it I think it added a lot of fun and excitement to the awards and hopefully we made everyone feel like VIP's on the red carpet.  

The Awards were presented and afterwards everyone moved to a Gala Reception where local restaurants and caterers had a lovely set up of some brilliant food.  My favourites of the night were Rock Lobster's Bisque and freshly shucked oysters by owner Matt Dean Pettit.  I also enjoyed the amazing array of chocolates from Cocoa Berry.  Dufflet had delicious tiramisu and lemon cake squares.  There was also a lot of different kinds of pork dishes it seemed with Matt Basile (Lisa Marie) making a pork lettuce wrap and there was also Ted Reader with pork belly and barley risotto.  Vanessa Yeung (Aphrodite Cooks) had a dumpling in braised beef broth is what I think she said. 

 Martin Kouprie (Pangea) had a pretty complicated dish of pheasant I think with a sausage and blanched brussel sprouts and green puree and a few other touches.  The most complicated dish of the night for sure.  It was very lovely and so fun to see so many fellow bloggers and local chefs and Industry people that I know.  Last year there were only a couple of food bloggers there and I only knew one of them and a couple of other people.  After attending a whole lot of events this past year this year was different with a whole lot more familiar faces and new friends to chat with. It turned out to be a really fun event.  Here are the winners.

Taste Canada Award Winners

2015  TASTE CANADA AWARD Winners

Culinary Narratives/Narrations Culinaires

Secrets of a Hutterite Kitchen: Unveiling the Rituals, Traditions, and Food of the Hutterite Culture

Mary-Ann Kirkby
Penguin Canada Books, Toronto

Ainsi cuisinaient les belles-sœurs dans l’œuvre de Michel Tremblay : Une traversée de notre patrimoine culinaire 1913 – 1963

Anne Fortin
Flammarion Québec, Montréal

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General Cookbooks/ Livres de Cuisine Générale

Family Meals
Michael Smith
Penguin Canada Books, Toronto

Ensemble : Cuisine gourmande et colorée
Christelle Tanielian
Les Éditions La Presse, Montréal

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Regional/Cultural Cookbooks / Livres de cuisine régionale et culturelle 

The SoBo Cookbook: Recipes from the Tofino Restaurant at the End of the Canadian Road
Lisa Ahier and Andrew Morrison
Appetite by Random House, Vancouver

La récolte
Bernard Dubé
Bernard Dubé, New Richmond
(Mention Spéciale)

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Single-Subject Cookbooks/Livres de Cuisine Sujet Unique

Duchess Bake Shop
Giselle Courteau
Duchess Bake Shop, Edmonton

Soupes-repas gourmandes
Anne-Louise Desjardins
Guy Saint-Jean, Éditeur, Laval

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Food blog – Best Post / Blogue culinaire – meilleure publication

“Whole Roasted Cauliflower with Hazelnut, Orange, and Saffron”
Allison Day
Yummy Beet

« Pizza 3 minutes : saucisses italiennes, épinards, tomates cerises, cœurs d’artichauts et mozzarella »
Christelle Tanielian
Christelle Is Flabbergasting

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2015 Hall of Fame Inductees

Rose Murray (1941–) From writing, to teaching, to television and radio appearances across Canada, over a long career, Murray has shaped our perspective of Canadian cuisine.

Nellie Lyle Pattinson (1879–1953)  Pattinson wrote the Canadian Cook Book, published by Ryerson Press in 1923 and reprinted twenty times up to 1949.

Helen Wattie (1911–2009) and Elinor Donaldson Whyte (1926–) These two women updated Pattinson’s text to reflect Canada’s prosperity and changing food habits after World War II, with an  innovative 1953 edition, that included – for the first time in Canada – a chapter of “Regional Dishes”.

For more info about the Awards go to http://www.tastecanada.org

All photos by Linda Matarasso ©2015

12 Days of Christmas Food Gifts

 Holiday Gifts Ideas  

There are a few people that I know that can't for the life of them figure out what to get as gifts for people and some people like me try their best to try and come up with ideas that are either specific to the person or a general thing that would make most people happy.

Here are some of my ideas for Gifts that you can give to people that appreciate good food or for those people you have no idea what to get that will make them happy.

1.  A Great Serving Platter something like this Hand Painted Plate.

2.  A unique box of Chocolates or Artisanal Chocoates like these Ginger chocolates

3.  A Cookbook for the Novice or Professional Chef, a Celebrity Chef book, Healthy Cooking or even an ethnic or beginner cookbook.  Always helpful.

4.  There's always a traditional mug but why not be not so traditional and get an Original mug or Artist original painted mug that shows the person you know what their interests are like this camera mug.

5.  How about a Morter and Pestel and some whole spices to kick up their dishes to the next level.  It's something most people don't think about but once they have one they use it when they want really intense flavour in their dishes.

6.  Your friends and family can't cook or too busy or just hate to cook.  Why not get them a gift certificate for a great local and special restaurant like Chef Lynn Crawford's RUBY WATCHCO.  The menu is a prix fixe menu that changes every night.   And you might see Chef Lynn cooking away in the kitchen too.

7.  Ever thought outside of the box for a Foodie gift that can double as a tree ornament?  How about getting your favourite baker a Specialty Cookie Cutter and tie a string on it and present it as a tree ornament that they can use to bake you some delicious cookies the following year.

8.  If you are a decent baker then bake up a batch of your best cookies and present them in a Holiday Tin or Wrap them in Individual bags and tie with a pretty ribbon.  People are always impressed that you went to the trouble of baking specially for them.  From easy chocolate chip to fancy gingerbread.  Just present it well and they will love it.

9.  Present treats or any little gift in a cute little lunch bag like this that can be reused long after the treats are gone.

10.  If you don't know what to get someone then why not get them a gift pack of Specialty teas and maybe present a whole Tea package.  Even if they are coffee drinkers they will appreciate the gift when they have guest visiting them and they can serve them the specialty teas.  No cooking skills or machines required just some tea, boiling water and a mug.

 11.  Is someone you know scare you when they are holding a knife?  Well you can fix that by giving them a gift of a knife skills class to teach them how to wield those sharp objects without people running in the other direction.

12.  And then there's always a safe bet of a movie.  Or pop some popcorn and give them this Dancing Snoopy and the Charlie Brown Christmas Special or maybe a food movie on DVD or tickets to go see a great food documentary like the one I saw recently " Spinning Plates" 

Don't forget the Mistletoe and Gingerbread like Snoopy is armed with.

I hope you find some of these ideas helpful if you are stumped with ideas for the perfect gift.

Foodies are really easy ...they love food and all things about food so there are endless ideas of things that would make them happy if you just look around and think outside the box.