Aviva Friedman's blog

I never thought I’d utter the words “environment”, “locally-sourced cupcakes”, and “Colin Firth” in the same sentence. But if you were at the Green Living Show last weekend, you’d know what I’m talking about. The Green Living Show, a celebration of all things “green”, a showcase for celebrity environmentalists, local foodies, and everything-you-ever-wanted-to-know-about-being-eco-friendly products. Lucky for me, perks of the job include eating my fill of locally sourced grub, digging in to the Farm Fresh Fare stalls hosted by Evergreen and Slow Food Toronto to help fund food garden programs at schools across the Greater Toronto Area. The menus, loosely scribbled on chalk boards hung on the wall, had me scrambling with inspired thoughts – “Braised Beretta Short Ribs with Local Navy Beans and Heirloom Carrots” – Now why didn’t I think of making that? So obvious. “Savoury Panna Cotta with Preserved Lemon and Wild Leeks” – Easy-peasy, I could make Panna Cotta with my eyes closed. But I better have a taste...for the sake of the GBFresh blog, of course. “Apple and Almond Tart with Whipped Crème Fraiche” - ...Am I drooling?... I hope no one notices.

Other favourite things of mine: sun-blasted Saturdays, chocolate-covered anything, and cooking dinner with friends. I yearn for girlfriend cooking sessions on days when I’m so tired that boxed food glinting with freezer burn looks appealing. Back in the good ole days of university, it wasn’t uncommon to haphazardly stumble upon a group cooking experiment in my kitchen. It was a sight to behold: a cacophony of ingredients, recipe ideas, clinking pots and giddy laughter, and the results never disappointed. Those days are long gone, but my affection for them remains kindled. A few pals of mine called me up this week to cook dinner; it was a sweet reminder that there’s nothing quite like good food and delicious company to go along with it. Try a gathering yourself: call a friend, gather some Greenbelt ingredients, a bottle of VQA wine, make a meeting spot, and get cookin'!

Easy, greasy, and delicious: my 3 favourite words.  I’m not an avid meat-eater, as you can probably tell, but my brother's meaty mid-week kitchen experiment had me drooling.  He was fiddling around with the pride of our Hungarian bloodline - meat and potatoes - giving these classic ingredients an East-Indian twist in the form of roti. Missing out on the breading, all that was left for me was a crispy brown layer of filling at the bottom of the pot. Unperturbed, I single-handedly scraped the pot clean. I wanted more, and fast, and I was promised some with a catch: this roti-round would be a family affair - the boy would make the filling if I would make the shell (last time it was from a box). It's funny - I had seriously considered converting to a full-fledged vegetarian this week. That is, until I tried the sausage and potato roti, when I decided to postpone my plans indefinitely.

I’ve never celebrated Easter, but I could smell its arrival from a mile away. I think it was the goodies on my desk that gave it away, a pile of egg shaped chocolates and pastel rainbows of blue, pink and yellow, which grew larger and larger as the week passed by. By Thursday afternoon, every file on my desk was covered with a light dusting of chocolate, and I knew it was time for me to satisfy my sweet tooth and get in on the fun. And since Easter is all about egg-loving, I had an idea up my sleeve.

It's maple syrup season, and everyone's talking about it. Cars were packed with kiddies heading out on March Break sugar shack excursions. Bloggers are writing up syrup tastings and maple-themed events around the Greenbelt. Even my friends from south of the border jealously pine for some of our liquid gold, dark sugary streams that flow out of maple trees, year after year, right on time. It's a uniquely sweet treat, pretty much leading the pack of "things that define Canada". For me, the best part of maple syrup is its god-like omnipresence – If you live in Southern Ontario, it’s everywhere.

The sun may be shining, but I’m feeling the winter blahs. Maybe it’s the slim Greenbelt pickings in the produce aisle. Perhaps I’m just squashed out. But is there a silver lining, you ask? Well, as Irish poet Alfred Percival Graves reminded me, there is: “When after the Winter alarmin’, the Spring steps in so charmin’, so fresh and arch, in the middle of March, wid her hand St. Patrick’s arm on.”  St. Patrick’s Day is coming! So last Wednesday, I put on my thinking cap and phoned up a wicked friend of mine to try something crazy: St. Patty’s Green and Purple Pierogies. Were we nuts? Maybe. But with a bit of Irish luck, our pierogies were given a surprisingly delightful jolt, just in time for my favourite holiday.  

Exhausted from a long week of work, I stood with my hands clutching onto the fridge doors, grasping for something to eat on the barren shelves. I wanted something simple, something satisfying and delicious, but all I could scrounge up was a single leek, a handful of mushrooms, some eggs and a bit of cream. Now, I’ve learned a thing or two from mom. She’s no Master Chef. And, she doesn’t often take the prize for her cooking. But mom does 3 things and she does them right: lasagna, curry, and quiche. Quiche for dinner, quiche for potlucks, quiche for birthdays, quiche for holidays – A lifetime of quiche and it seemed only natural to pass me the torch for this egg-centric dish.

What do you get when you fill a room with fiddlers, a band of folks in cowboy boots and a first-rate excuse to try your hand at square dancing? Why, it’s the Holland Marsh Hoe-down of course, an event held on January 28th to celebrate the Greenbelt’s 5th birthday and the fantastic contributions of farmers in the Holland Marsh! My duties left me lingering near an assortment of soups, laid out lovingly by their proud owners themselves. I couldn’t peel my eyes away from one mysterious soup, a rich purple broth which ultimately carried surprisingly rich flavors of carrots, cream, and garlic. But with the soup’s mastermind sworn to secrecy on his family’s purple carrot soup recipe, I had to look to a friend for some inspiration for a different kind of soup.

New years’ resolutions aside, I love maple syrup. Indulging in pure maple syrup brings back memories of my younger days, sitting with a gaggle of classmates on a sleigh in the snow of Ontario’s wilderness, eager to taste the sugar tapped from the trees. These days, I source my maple syrup from my local farmers’ market at the Wychwood Barns, selecting my favourite winter-time treat from a row of syrup bottles in rich shades of brown.

Did you know that Ontario produces five types of wheat? That’s right! Meandering through the Greenbelt’s fields, you’ll find a variety of wheats, including my all-time favourite, soft red winter wheat. The seed, which is planted in the fall, spends the winter nestled under the snow, then begins to spread its wings and grow in March. Soft red winter wheat and I go way back. In fact, you might know this wheat yourself. Soft red is the largest class of wheat grown in Ontario, and more importantly, is the type of wheat used in cakes and pastries. So what’s a girl to do with a bunch of wheat (i.e. flour), a pile of farm fresh eggs, and some irresistible Ontario butter? With a predicament like that, festive cookies are in order!