Devastating St. Jacob's Farmer's Market Fire (Ontario)

St. Jacob's Farmer's Market Fire

photo courtesy of CFPL AM 980

Coverage of the St. Jacob's Farmer's Market Fire by CFPL AM 980

This blog has always covered anything of interest food related.  For the most part, everything shared has been rather positive.  I am beyond saddened to share with you today the devastating news coming out of St. Jacob's just north of Waterloo that the St. Jacob's Farmer's Market burned to the ground in an early Sunday morning fire.  This is a huge disaster for the Kitchener-Waterloo Mennonite community as well as the general community at large.

The St. Jacob's Farmer's Market has been a must stop whenever we are in the Kitchener-Waterloo area which is quite often.  While it was famous for attracting tourists, this farmer's market was a staple for those living.  The building housed several artisan style small businesses including a couple of butcher shops and cheese shops along with artwork and some of the finest quality handmade wood furniture you could buy.  There were several food vendors selling a wide range of products including free range eggs, wild game meat, homemade sausages, bird seed, jams and other home canned foods, specialty foods and so much more.  Of course there was the locally grown produce.  There were a few small eateries to enjoy including a booth selling piping hot, freshly made mini doughnuts.  Now those were divine!  The outside of the building was surrounded by more vendors and a market farmyard.  This was the place to go! It was a foodie mecca!

This farmer's market was so much more though.  It was a community!  It was where families spent their Saturdays, where farmer's met to sell their produce and connect with other farmers and it was a way of life for many in the area.  It was their livelihood!    The demise of this farmer's market will negatively impact the local economy to a large extent.  The Amish and Mennonite community in Ontario are strong so there is no doubt the market will be rebuilt and back in operation with the support of those both locally and from afar who loved and depended on the farmer's market.  Our thoughts and prayers go out to everyone affected by this devastating fire.

Frugal Kitchens 101 - A Foodie Road Trip

The vast majority of our foodie road trips are within a 100 mile (160 km) radius of our home however, when we are in the GTA which is almost double that radius we tend to take advantage of any foodie finds.  I keep a list and have a couple of apps for finding the perfect foodie stops when traveling.  This past weekend we spent in Niagara Falls were one of our kids completed a half marathon of 22 km (13.1 miles).  That in itself was an amazing event to attend!  Prior to the marathon, the focus for her was on high protein intake but for the rest of us it was business as usual.  The marathon was in the morning so after resting for the afternoon, we enjoyed a 5 course gourmet dinner, chef's choice at Vineland Estates Winery.  That in itself will be the subject of a couple of blog posts!  My husband and I took our time coming home making several stops so we arrived home with purchases from Vineland, Dillon's Small Batch Distillery, Oak Manor, as well as rye whiskey (made with rye grain not corn), grape based vodka, grape based gin, strawberries, raspberries, peas, plain honey, blueberry honey and 92% raw cocoa with pure maple syrup.  All of our purchases were grown and produced in Canada. 

The Niagara area is rich in vineyards, producing some of the finest award winning wines there are.  The sad reality is on 20% of wines produced in Ontario are carried in the LCBO, the only place to buy wine for home use outside of the wineries.  As a Canadian I do feel this is wrong!  The LCBO owned by the provincial government and funded by our tax dollars should be supporting our locally produced wines considerably more than what they are.  The Niagara region is the place to go for superior quality grape juice as well as peaches, strawberries, and other Ontario produce.  It is a mecca of farm fresh produce stands, farm markets and wine market stores all set in the beautiful and picturesque landscape.  There are also microbreweries and distilleries in the Niagara region.

Unless I am making a specific foodie road trip where the focus is only on food, most of our road trips involve some type of food, more often than not bring home one or more foodie finds.  What we generally look for is foods grown and produced in that particular area.  We have several resources for finding these great gems!  Here are a few:

• Foodland Ontario signs - Foodland Ontario is the long-established consumer promotional program of the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs.   Growers and producers as well as Ontario produce sold in grocery stores are identified by the familiar Foodland Ontario green and white logo.  This helps to distinguish farm markets selling Ontario produce from those that may be selling imported produce although generally that is not a big problem.  Farmland Ontario also has free publications located at various retail outlets and farm markets throughout Ontario as well as a wealth of consumer information on their website. 
• apps -  Apps for iPad, iPhone and Android are available for finding restaurants, wineries, food trucks and various food stops of interest in Ontario.  Some are free while other cost a small amount.  Street Food Toronto is a great free app for finding all types of food stands in the GTA complete with locations, hours of operation and contact information.  Ontario Natural Food Co-op is another great free app to help find natural and organic food growers and producers.  This is really a must have app for foodie road trips!
• social media - A lot of food vendors, growers and producers are turning to Twitter and Facebook.  I follow several on both.  The nice thing about using social media is you can easily contact them directly, often getting a response within minutes and all from the comforts of your smartphone or tablet.
• GPS - A GPS either stand alone or as a smartphone app is quite useful for finding those out of the way foodie gems that may be difficult to find using only a road map.  
• word of mouth - Honestly this can be one of the best ways to find a foodie gem.  Before leaving the Niagara region our daughter texted for us to check out Dillon's which is a new small batch brewery on a service road off of Highway 403.  The thing is from the road, it looks nothing more than a large storage building and really not all that large, something we certainly would not have been looking for.  We found it only because of her.  That is the way with a lot of foodie finds much the same way I will tell someone if you want great local honey go down this road, turn right at the white house with the green shutters, go down to fourth house on right and turn in their driveway then drive up to garage where you will see the honey for sale sign on the garage side door.  There's no signage on a regular basis at the road but rather it is available when they are there.

Asparagus Fusilli with Pork Balls in Mushroom Sauce

It really is amazing how versatile some foods are.  Take corn for example.  I read where 99% of everything produced (edible, non-edible) is in some way connected to corn.  A quick walk through the grocery store will show that corn is in many products as an ingredient, in packaging, and so much more.  Other vegetables appear in products that you would least expect.  Our kids gifted us with a very lovely basket filled with food products with asparagus as an ingredient over the Easter holiday.   Asparagus is one such vegetable that I would not have expected to find in a lot of food products yet surprisingly, Barrie's Asparagus in Cambridge, Ontario makes several products using asparagus. 

Last night, I decided to cook the asparagus fusilli that came in the gift basket.  This is an enriched pasta made from 100% durum semolina and fresh Ontario asparagus.  Fresh asparagus pasta would be quite easy to make if you have a pasta maker attachment for your Kitchen Aid stand mixer.  I wanted a rich, creamy sauce for the asparagus fusilli.  I started with fresh ground pork loin then built the dish from there.

When I make meatballs, the method used is determined by the meat.  If beef, I don't season the meat and the binder is milk.  That's it.  Ground pork is rather mild flavoured which is fine if cooking in a rich tomato based sauce long enough to absorb the flavour.  These meatballs were destined for a mushroom sauce, cooked over a shorter period of time so I lightly seasoned the ground pork with garlic pepper, mixed well with 2 eggs, then added dry bread crumbs.  I formed the meatballs with a meatball shaper then browned in heated olive oil in a ceramic coated skillet.  Once the meatballs were browned, I stirred in two cans of Campbell's condensed mushroom soup, a half can of milk and a half can of half & half.

This is one of the very, very few mass produced condensed soups that I do buy.  The reason being, it is ideal as a quick sauce.  Homemade cream of mushroom soup is easy enough to make but cannot be home canned and it is next to impossible to keep enough on hand in the freezer. 

I brought the meatball and sauce mixture to a low boil then reduced the heat to a low simmer.  The low simmer allows the meatballs to finish cooking while absorbing flavour from the sauce.  It also reduces the sauce to a thicker, richer consistency.  The lactose in the milk and half & half caramelizes to give a richer flavour while the lactic acid in both keep the meatballs tender and juicy. 

Local fresh asparagus will be in season here shortly.  I can't wait!  Asparagus is best lightly cooked (steamed, sautéed, grilled) until just tender (al dente) while retaining the beautiful bright green.  If overcooked asparagus takes on a drab olive colour with a mushy texture.  Dried asparagus is closer to a brown than a green so it did not surprise me that the asparagus fusilli while more of a drab olive colour dry, turned closer to tan when cooked.  Aside of the colour, there really isn't much asparagus flavour in the asparagus fusilli. 
Fusili is a nice thick pasta with lots of nooks to hold thick sauces, like the mushroom sauce used for this dish.  I topped the asparagus fusilli with the pork balls in mushroom sauce, sautéed fresh asparagus and sliced mushrooms, and chopped fresh green onions and tomatoes with just a light sprinkling of sesame seeds.  One of my favourite ways to serve any pasta is to include some type of chopped fresh vegetables on top.  Raw vegetables added this way add both an element of flavour and texture that pairs nicely with many pasta dishes.   It's a great way to add a bit of extra nutrition as well as eye appeal.  The asparagus fusilli with pork balls in mushroom sauce was a delightfully delicious and sinfully rich meal with the flavours blending nicely yet fairly low in fat.