Green Living Preview

 

The 2017 Green Living Show is coming up this April 7-9, 2017 at the Metro Convention Centre in Toronto and I was invited to have a sneak peek at some of the vendors and new products that will be showcased at this year's show.

I have been to the Green Living Show many times and it's one of my favourite shows because it combines my favourite thing local Restaurants and food producers with a lot of new innovative products that are made to help the environment and not hurt it.  There is something for everyone from baby clothes to cars and all sorts of products for your home and your body.  It's a one stop shop if you care about your purchases being the best they can be for you and the environment.

I will be giving away 2 pairs of tickets on my Instagram page @lindamatarasso deadline to enter will be April 3rd and winners announced April 4th.

Some of the INNOVATIVE products that I previewed included:

Ritual box (thinkahlot.com)  (pictured above),  it's a box with all the things you would use for your legal marijuana.  I don't know much about this but I have a feeling this might be a trendy gift item soon.  There was also Canabis products made and consultations for pain management by Tweed Main Street Shop that are made with specific medicinal strength oils that are meant to be injested or put directly on the skin.

There was also a NutriTower (nutritower.com) planter that is meant to be used inside to grow herbs and vegetables with it's own lighting system.  Grow your own food even in a small space because it's vertical growing.

There were faux rocks and planters made from Recycled Tires.  The rocks look like real rocks even.

Also on hand were:

 Crazy D's All Natural Soda (crazydlabs.com) Yoga Leggings (myinnerfire.com), Lift Bike (revelo.ca), Stainless Steel Containers (dalcinistainless.com) , Healthy Dog Treats (en.wilderharrier.com),, Vita Active Kit (fitglow.ca), The Black Out Bulb (blackoutbulb.com), Vegan Cashew Cheese (zengarry.com)

You will also find out about the new Certification label (CERT CLEAN) that will indicate products tested to be clean for your body with no harm to your health.  The term Organic and natural don't mean anything in Skin Care products so this certification aims to make it easier for consumers to know which products have been verified to be safe.

 There are so many products featured at the show that I can't even tell you about half of them in this post because there are just too many that you need to see to understand the benefits of the products.

There is an area just for food and drink where local restaurants, craft brewers, distillers and wineries sell small samples of their products.

The food vendors will serve flavours from all over the world some of them are:  

• Hawthorne Food & Drink
• Pimenton
• Santo Pecado
• Urban Acorn Catering
• The Magic Oven
• TC's MOMO
• Lavelle
• Karam Kitchen
• B'Saha Restaurant
• De la Terre bakery cafe
• and more.

Show Info:

Green Living Show 2017

www.greenlivingshow.ca

Sunday Apr 7 - 12-9pm

Saturday Apr 8 - 10 am - 8 pm

Sunday Apr 9 - 10am- 6 pm

Metro Toronto Convention Centre, North Building

255 Front Street West

Toronto, ON

M5W 2W6

Tickets: Adults $12 online, $15 onsite

Seniors 65+/ students $10

Children under 12 - Free with an adult

Social @greenlivingpage

#GLS17

Encore Catering puts an end to institutional food.

Host:  Encore Catering 
Event: Blogger Bites Tasting
Location:  Encore Catering offices: 5000 Dufferin Street
Website:  http://encorecatering.com/
Date visited:  August 20, 2015
Hashtag #encorebloggerbites
Google +Encore Food With Elegance
Email: info@encorecatering.com


No more rubber Chicken!  Encore Catering does it better.

I was invited to go to Encore Catering's 10,000 ft. catering kitchen in Downsview with a few of my fellow food bloggers.  From the moment I walked into their office and then their catering kitchen no detail was left un-done.  First with this welcoming sign in their front entrance and then we were given booklets with pens to make notes and a glass of water and then promptly given a delicious amuse bouche as pictured under the sign.  A lobster Belt.  Lobster, egg lettuce tomato on an incredible brioche slider bun.  We were introduced to the staff who run this family business and then we were brought into their catering kitchen to sample some of their menu items.

photo credit: Encore Catering

We walked into a pop up party set in the middle of an industrial kitchen. Think of it as a private table in a restaurant kitchen with the chef with standup tables and chairs and a small bar set up for a few drinks.

The bloggers jumped right in and took lots of photos of the staff busily working away on the dishes we were going to be served.

Encore Catering has been in business since 1979 and started by Cary Silber, President who used to be a musician at weddings and wasn't impressed with the food he saw at the events he was working at.  He has a food science degree and also one in nutrition and felt that he could do catering better than what was out there so he set up shop and I think he loves every minute of it. He is joined by family members David Silber, VP of Sales and Ryan Silber, Director of Operations and with their Executive Chef Roshan Wanasingha they create some beautiful and fresh inspired dishes that are prepared a la minute to make sure everything is at the peak of perfection.

They are also capable of doing Kosher catering by using their other kitchen that is set up at the Beth Tzedec Synagogue.

The family and staff were so lovely and hospitable and really went out of their way to give us a taste of their best bites.

The food,  the flavours were spot on and the presentations of the dishes were spectacular.  Not your standard chicken on a stick and beef sliders but instead of the beef sliders they had Chateaubriand taco bites that were melt in your mouth amazing.

So much of the food they presented was incredibly labour intensive like their Smoking Beet Tian which was a triple layer of finely diced beets and Chevre foam and sweet and spicy cashews. The smoking part was the tian was covered with a small glass that was filled with smoke so when you lifted it the smoke wafted into the air.

One of their amazing tasty bites that I had 2 of was the Duck Confit Beignet with Rhubarb Apricot Marmalade.  OMG what a great cocktail bite of food.

There was also a dish called Eurasian Inspiration with all kinds of intricate ingredients artfully plated but the star on that plate was definitely the Braised Pork Belly Cube.

Everything was impeccable but the desserts were a work of art.  The Vanilla Semi Freddo with strawberry Rose Consomme was so smooth and light.  The labour intensive Gorgonzola and pear Pana Cotta served in an egg shell and garnished with chocolate was so different from anything you would normally see at a catered event that it was a real show stopper.

I could go on an on about every dish but I don't think there was a bad dish in the bunch that we tried but of course there are always things that you just want to go back for more.

You know bloggers can become incredibly jaded and hard to impress but I know that we were all pleasantly surprised by the whole evening and all of the food.

Much thanks go to ALL of their great staff for an incredibly evening.
I am not planning on getting married but if I was they would be at the top of my list of caterers for sure.

Don't expect a standard price list though.   They work one on one with you to select exactly what you want for your event and will tailor the budget and menu around that.  You select exactly what you want that way.

Give them a shout if you have an event coming up whether it's a wedding or a corporate event or anything else you need some great food for.  I know they will be more than accommodating and you will be very satisfied with the results.

Follow them on Twitter @encore_catering

* The meal was complimentary but all of the opinions in this blog are my own.