TJs Pizza & Curry in a Hurry: A Smart Move

"I didn't know your name was Tajinder!" I have known Goldie for over six years now and I had no idea.

"How did you get the name Goldie?" She held up her arms and laughed as she shook her many gold bracelets. Good answer, and perhaps it's as simple as that, but I prefer to think that someone long ago noticed her naturally bright and shiny personality and her new pet name stuck.

The question came up last Wednesday when my friend, Janis Ramsay, and I popped into Goldie's new food enterprise on Bell Farm Road. I want to say that Janis and I get together for these little restaurant outings quite often but I see that our last luncheon was in 2015! With so many cool places to eat in Barrie, we better pick up the pace.

We both wondered aloud at the name for the new venture, TJ's Pizza & Curry in a Hurry. I guessed that the letter T stood for Tiffins Curry in a Hurry, their previous and highly successful restaurant near Five Points in Barrie - but what about that J? Janis brilliantly assumed that the letters represent Tiffins Junior. We were both wrong.

Kay, Goldie's husband, business partner and the gifted master of spice and flavour, told us that TJ was yet another nickname for Tajinder, aka Goldie. Aha!

These folks know what they are doing. In early 2013, I was working for a short-lived food tourism outfit and as I reached out to the downtown eateries ahead of a planned restaurant tour, Goldie was the very first one to reply. In fact, I believe she got back to my mass emailing in fifteen minutes. Goldie has always been quick to jump on board with anything that would bring attention to their business with little or no cost - social media, handing out free food during Promenade Days, community cable television, inviting fledgling food bloggers in (me) and taking a chance of some unknown food tour thing (also me!)

For a decade, Goldie and Kay operated out of the smallest of spaces in an 1870's era building near the corner of Dunlop St. E. and Bayfield St. The dining room was cozy and adorable. The kitchen was so incredibly small that Kay actually avoided hiring any assistants of larger stature as they wouldn't be able to fit in there together!!

Over the years, Tiffins Curry in a Hurry developed a huge following of regulars. With the ever bubbly Goldie up front and Kay performing his culinary wizardry in the back, they were the ideal pair to grow this small Indian restaurant in a town that had only recently begun to sample a wider range of ethnic cuisines.

I was as surprised as anyone when I learned that they were going to be leaving their lovingly established downtown venue and migrating up to the wilds of north central Barrie ... aaaaaand they were going to be serving pizza. What?

With their tiny shop successful and operating at capacity, Goldie and Kay began to think of moving. Parking was not always convenient for their guests although the loyalists would somehow find a way to get their Tiffins food fix. Several times their front window was damaged. The signs for change were there.

When they learned that a long running pizza place was relocating from its spot at 20 Bell Farm Road, they jumped. So what to does an Indian restaurant do with a massive pre-existing pizza production set-up? I bet you can guess.

Curry and pizza is not as crazy as it sounds.  Welcome to the world of fusion cuisines. You're already doing it anyway. Had any fish tacos, perogy poutine, or chicken and waffles lately? Note also that Tiffins old location is now home to a pho and sub sandwich house. Exactly.

With Georgian College within walking distance, this new location will be a big hit with the many South Asian students and residents in the area. The faithful fans have also found their way up to Bell Farm Road as well and are loving the ample parking. The food and friendly service is just as it was on Dunlop St. E. No change there.

Chef Kay is still adjusting to having so much room to work. The counter tops are many and the storage space is limitless. After creating his flavourful masterpieces in box-like space with only pivoting room, this must seem like cooking in the middle of a ballroom.

A major difference is that this is a take-out business and not a restaurant with seating. (Goldie hinted that she won't miss washing dishes.) That didn't stop Janis and I from setting ourselves up in a small nook where customers usually wait for their orders.

We started with some lovely samosas. These yummies are common in India and vary greatly region to region. Guess what - samosas are a Middle Eastern food that was blended into the Indian diet during the spread of Islam a thousand years ago. Still think fusion cuisine is a new thing?

Janis hasn't been into Indian food for long but is an enthusiastic fan now! She enjoys that super popular creation of a dish, butter chicken. Almost exactly like the birth story of the chicken wing in Buffalo, (check it out some time), butter chicken was invented purely by accident in the mid 20th century by a chef desperate to make a meal out of leftover ingredients.

I tend to fall into food ruts. By that, I mean that when I find something really, really good on a menu, I order it every single time. Muskoka Benedict at the Dunlop Diner. Halibut dinner at Fancy's. The Prime black bean burger at Kenzinton  Burger Bar. Chana masala at Tiffins.

This time, I told Chef Kay to surprise me with something from their vegetarian menu. The vegetables, the protein, cashew sauce versus coconut sauce - it mattered little to me because I knew it was going to be fabulous. Goldie asked me if I still prefer a mild taste. Actually, I am experimenting with a little more heat these days but not to the level of their famously fiery phaal curry

The chef did not disappoint. Janis' butter chicken with naan bread and my creamy dreamy veggie delight with colourful basmati rice both disappeared. The food, the service and the company were unparalleled anywhere. The pizza end isn't fully up and running yet. I know of two girls who like to write, and eat, who will be back!

Casa Mia in Barrie: Pasto Perfetto!

Driving home from visiting my mother, we passed Casa Mia on Dunlop St. W. and Ron suddenly remembered two things. He was hungry and that he'd had a gift card for Casa Mia sitting on his dresser since Christmas.

We returned as soon as we retrieved the gift card and went in not long after the restaurant opened at 4 o'clock. A table of four were the only other guests inside.

Mediterranean music complimented the old world decor of wood and plaster, tile, columns, frescoes and statuettes, while a pleasant and slightly garlicky aroma filled the air.  The hostess quickly seated us at a south facing window and very soon after, we were greeted by our server who must be one of the sweetest and most enthusiastic wait staff I have met anywhere.

Corinne, and I hope I have spelled your name correctly, is the brand ambassador every business dreams of. It was apparent that our good time was her number one objective, and not only because it was her job but because she genuinely believed in the fare she was serving, and truly wanted us to be happy.

Corrine was surprised to hear that we were first-timers. Casa Mia must have a lot of regular visitors! She explained all the specials and side options, then eagerly pointed out her own favourite dishes on the menu. She easily sold us on two of them, Greek Village Chicken and Linguine Pacifico. We are always on the hunt for a fantastic caesar salad and so ordered two of those to start, and a nice glass of white wine.

The salads were very nice. Light but tangy and flavourful, not like some of the watery bland affairs we have encountered elsewhere.

Two amazing platters soon followed. They were unlike any plates I have seen to date in Barrie - hearty, artful and uniquely presented.

Ron's Greek Village Chicken was described to us as a chicken parmigiana with the addition of  spinach. The sides of roasted potato and mixed veg sounded nice but not necessarily exciting. However, what he received was so much more than what was expected. At Casa Mia, they sauce and cheese all items on the plate, then bake it, which was a delicious surprise!

Mixed vegetables in most standard restaurants often means a small pile of unseasoned steamed broccoli, cauliflower and carrot. Healthy but boring. Casa's was all that and more, roasted, sauced and cheesed, and Ron was actually giddy to find a beet in his veg selection!

My plate was so beautifully presented! Large tiger shrimps and calamari pieces were swirled into a tall mound of saucy pasta and surrounded by a crown of mussels in the shell.

The tomato sauce in our dishes, house made I'm told, was just lovely. Smooth, light and not at all acidic. I am not a big red sauce fan normally but Casa Mia's sauce was a delight.

Naturally, we had no room left for dessert but we treated ourselves to the next best thing, something we had not sampled in years - a specialty coffee from the bar! Ron ordered a B52 coffee and kept it slightly simpler with a Bailey's coffee. Our drinks were decadent and just what we needed to top off a perfect meal!

They Say You Can Never Trust a Skinny Chef

Happy New Year! I have been rather absent from my Curious Nibbler persona lately but not for any particular reason. Life just gets busy - work, volunteer roles, family etc. but I still love my adventures in food. In fact, you will see that I have moved myself into the 21st century with the purchase of a (once dreaded) cell phone and found that Instagram is a fantastic medium.

Something else is new though. I am working on a project, one that aims to shatter the meme that says "never trust a skinny chef." That project is me. 

One year ago tomorrow, for whatever inexplicable reason, I awoke feeling like I deserved better. Coincidentally or otherwise, January 6 is the date of Epiphany on the Christian calendar, the day that the three Wise Men encountered that special baby. An epiphany can also be defined as a moment of sudden revelation that changes you in some way.

I woke up that morning feeling unhealthy and depressed. My joints hurt, my clothes were strangling me, mirrors and scales were my enemies and I was sick of it. I deserved to be happy and healthy and I decided that I was going to do something about it.

I am a veteran of Weight Watchers (in 2 different countries), T.O.P.S. and Herbalife, all of them multiple times. Lost hundreds of pounds over several decades. I should be below my birth weight by now. I have realized that in every one of those fun (not) exercises in deprivation I was doing it for anyone but me - my family, my friends, society at large, or the sweet lady manning the scale who clapped when I lost a pound.

This time had to be different. For years, I had avoided any attempts at losing the excess weight mostly because I feared another failure.

So I made a plan. First, I picked a reasonable number as my target weight, a number I had been at before, something attainable and maintainable, and keeping in mind that I am not twenty years old and that I have given birth to five big beautiful babies in my life.

I gave myself a year to get to that number. I also told no one. This was my little secret. Sometimes, when you announce that you want to lose weight, well-meaning people like to remind you that perhaps you "shouldn't be eating that" and put extra guilt/pressure on you. I was possibly twenty pounds lighter or more before people began to ask if I was losing weight.

I decided to be kind and reasonable with myself. I would not do anything "nutty" or, in other words, no fad diets, weight loss groups or services, fasting, cleanses, pills, surgeries or meal plans. Just good and tasty food because I deserve that. If I want a few slices of pizza now and then, I will have them.

I hate gyms. I joined one once and only went a handful of times. What a waste of money. Gyms are just not for me and I know this so there is little point in me signing up at one. What do I like? Walking. I'm pretty good at it too - been doing it since I was ten months old, so I heard.

The beauty of walking is that almost all of us can do it. You need no special equipment, you can go any time you want and it costs nothing. Sometimes I add music, (another benefit to the once hated cell phone idea), and I am propelled along by some very cool 80s dance tracks! Other times, I leave the headphones at home and enjoy the sound of the birds or the wind in the trees.

You are wondering what I ate, right? I only ate food that I like. This is a key factor for anyone who wants to get healthy and lose any weight that is holding them back from living a full life - you will not succeed in the long term (or possibly short term) if you eat stuff that is "good for you" but tastes like crap.

Kale? Nope. Spring mix salads? Nope. I hate those things therefore I'm not going to eat them. You have to find foods that are good for you and that also taste good to you personally. They are out there.

Do you cook? You really need to put the effort in to learn how to prepare some really delicious meal items for yourself, again because you deserve this! I don't mean five star cheffy things, but simple yummy stuff that you can prep ahead and look forward to having when you come home tired and hungry. You might be surprised to learn that professional chefs are bad at this. Who wants to cook when they have cooked all day at work? Not meeeee.

I have been eating a mostly vegetarian diet for about six years now. That does not necessarily lead to an automatic healthy weight. It certainly didn't in my case. I know that I was not keeping track of my protein intake properly, and that carbohydrates were making up waaaaaay too much of my diet. I do much better with those things now.

Junk food was my crack cocaine. I ate a lot of chips, crackers and other salty/crunchy things. Every day. Those things were hard to give up but instead of thinking of their absence as a deprivation, I turned it around that they were an addiction that was killing me. I also turned to sunflower seeds and nuts instead, things that let me have my crunch and flavour treat but also add fiber and protein value to my diet.

I also gave up 90% of the bread that I ate. Carbs, carbs, carbs. Everybody talks about the evil of carbs but I don't know that they are terrible for everyone. I just know that I was eating far too much bread, and living on sandwiches to a great extent, so for me personally, walking away from bread made a big difference. Maybe once a week, I will have a veggie burger or pizza. Saying "never again" to a particular food item often leads to those old feelings of deprivation, craving and falling completely off the wagon.

So what do I really eat? Everybody has to find things that suit their personal taste, living situation, budget, medical status etc., so what I eat is not going to be what you eat. Breakfast for me can be fruit and cheese (my faves are grapes and smoked gouda), cereal and fruit (Fiber One with dried apricots), a high protein (30 g.) shake, or maybe a veggie omelette. Lunch could be a caesar salad with crab or shrimp, a homemade soup (butternut squash is my go-to), or one of my Indian style stews (crushed tomato, coconut milk, curry spices, assorted frozen veg and a soy based protein or chick peas).

I like to bake some fish ( Highliner Pan-Sear Selects are so good!) with veg drizzled in olive oil, create a filling lentil shepherd's pie or make an eggplant parmigiana for dinner. Nutritious and delicious things are a must. Why? Because (and keep telling yourself this) you deserve to be healthy and feel good, and also to enjoy your meals.

Above all, be good to yourself. Be patient and forgiving. Make small goals for yourself. Take small bites out of the apple, if you will forgive the food analogy, and look for losses of a pound here and there rather than looking at a big and overwhelming number. Aim for XXX pounds by Easter, for example, as a mini goal. Give yourself a tiny reward when you get there. New walking shoes, yoga pants or consider that FitBit you have been wanting.

I decided last year that I don't necessarily want to extend my life, but I want to live while I am alive, if that makes any sense. I want to dance with my daughter and hike with the boys, I want to wear the pretty clothes and give depression the boot, I want to have more energy to work and play, have more confidence, try new things and generally live well.

So (drum-roll please) I hit my goal ahead of schedule this past November 27th. To achieve my target, I lost the obscurely uneven sounding number of 57 pounds. I truly amazed myself. Never before I have I done something like this by myself and for myself.

What's next? Christmas put 3 pounds back on my frame but I'm not panicking (as I would have in the past) because I will soon rectify that. I am looking forward to the return of warm weather when I can really get walking again, without the fear of falling on my butt on an icy sidewalk. How I love my walks down to our beautiful  lake shore where I can soak away my cares in the cool waters of Kempenfelt Bay. I may even wear a two piece bathing suit this year. Wink.

Nino's Italian Restaurant: Just like Famiglia

Restaurants come and go. Many open up to great fanfare only to close their door two years later. I can think of a few places that I really liked, that operated for a number of years but then disappeared - Hobo's (later Bellamy's) located where Fabricland is now on Bayfield Street, Friends, Neighbours, and Ruby Bigonia's (all three owned by the same group), the Merriman (Hooters present location) and Reggie's Sandwich Factory on Dunlop Street East. Then there are the plodders, the slow horses in the race, just moving steadily along, serving quality food every day to regular customers in simple surroundings. Nothing flashy, just authentic food and excellent service. When you are still in the game four decades later, I think you can be declared a winner.

Nino's Italian restaurant is definitely a winner. If you Google Nino's, you get this fitting description, "Unpretentious Italian joint with familiar fare like chicken parmigiana and spaghetti since 1973." I wish I had written that. It occurred to me, while we were waiting for our meals, that people who lived in Barrie when it was a small city of about 27,000 would only have had two or three places to order a pizza from in those days. Today, there must be a hundred places where you can buy so-called Italian take-out food in the area. Yet Nino's keep plodding along, unperturbed by 2-4-1 deals, stuffed crusts, pretzel dough, crazy bread or trendy toppings.

So, a few months back, I treated my husband, Ron, to dinner at Nino's. He is big on Italian food and we had never been to Nino's before. I know, I know! The brick building sits nearly alone, as it always has, at 298 Blake Street, although a Tim Horton's has recently moved next door. It must have been a bit of a gamble at the time to start a restaurant so far away from the main areas of business in Barrie.

The exterior says 1970s Italian to me. The bricks and the arches over the windows remind me very much of the homes built by Italian immigrants in the very multicultural area where I grew up in that
era. Inside, the arched brickwork continues. The dining room is very neat and orderly. It has clearly been updated not too long ago but it still has that retro feel.

Nino himself has handed over his apron to his son, Luigi, now. It is fantastic to know that the restaurant he and his wife, Rosa, started all those years ago is still family run. Nino, who learned his craft in Italy, built his business on fine house made pasta, stone baked pizza and an assortment of sumptuous dishes like lasagna and manicotti. The tradition continues today.

So what did I have? On the way in, I spied the special of the day written on a chalk board - mushroom ravioli. I ordered that along with a caesar salad and some nice cheesy garlic bread to start. Ron chose lasagna. A nice glass of white house wine and a complimentary basket of fresh Italian bread completed the meal perfectly. Or did it? Couldn't help ourselves - got some dreamy tiramisu for dessert as well!

I should mention that our server was just wonderful too. I didn't get her name but she reminded me of my Italian friend, Salvina, just so warm and earthy. I watched her take care of her regulars just like extended family. Brava!

Dairy Queen: Keeping Barrie Cool Since 1959

My father was a hard working man and my mother didn't drive. At the end of a long, hot summer day, the kids were all begging for a swim somewhere but Dad would have preferred just to put his feet up. Understandable. But once in a while, we prevailed and the station wagon was loaded up with the customary towels, buckets and shovels, the old plastic webbing type folding chairs and the bathing caps that I hated so much.

What a joy it was to splash about in the cool lake water and then dig deep holes in the sand. We created some very elaborate sandcastles, surrounding them with long, snaking moats and topping the parapets with flags fashioned out of discarded drinking straws. The fun was eventually ended either by a wave of Dad's arm or by the beginning of a thunderstorm.

We packed up and drove away feeling refreshed and just a bit hungry, and we all hoped that Dad would say the most magical words of all. "You don't want to stop here and get a hamburger, do you?" He always asked this question at the last minute, just as it looked like we were about to drive right past Dairy Queen. I tell you, to a bunch of soaking wet kids straight out of a lake, after an hour or two of fresh air and horseplay, these were the best burgers ever! Wet bathing suit, sandy feet and a charbroiled DQ hamburger eaten in the back of Pontiac Laurentian  station wagon - what a great memory. So the answer to Dad's question, as if anyone doubted it, was always a very loud yes!

Recently, I took advantage of Barrie's fantastic waterfront and took a dip in Kempenfelt Bay. One hot afternoon seemed like the perfect day. The white board at the life guard station read Welcome to Centennial Beach. Weather: Sunny 41 C. Water: 25 C. I waded into the sparkling water with two of my grown sons and we all agreed that it was a great day to be a citizen of Barrie. We took a moment to consider where the water's edge used to be (pre 1967) just below the new condominium towers, and to acknowledge the brilliant thinkers and planners who made this jewel their Centennial project.

Centennial Park just keeps on getting better too. Have you checked out the new boardwalk? We stopped and ate a picnic lunch under a shady tree before our swim. Yes, yes, I know - Mom says no swimming for an hour after you eat! Our time in the lake was more splashing and floating than full-on swimming. Olympians we are not.

After that, we decided to do something daring. Well, daring for me that is. I am a self-confessed chicken and never attempt anything remotely dangerous, but kayaking looked to me like something even I could do. So we took a walk down to the Happy Paddling boat and board rental trailer and signed up to give it a go. What a blast! The coolest (by any definition of the word) activity to do, in the scorching city of Barrie today, was to paddle a kayak straight through the mist of the Rotary Fountain at Centennial Park.

How do you cap off a perfect summer day? The same way as always, of course - with a visit to DQ. You would never know it, because she had a face-lift not long ago, but this Queen has been serving up goodies on the corner of Bradford and Vespra Streets since 1959. Everything from the counter and walls inside, to the signage, and the the painted yellow lines in the parking lot are freshly done and new. But the shop and parking lot are still as small as they ever were, which somehow seems nice to me. Maybe it is nostalgia talking, but to me nothing says says summer more than seeing the door of a DQ propped open to allow the queue of ice cream and burger seekers to spill out onto the sidewalk.

So today, we each got a strawberry cheesecake Blizzard. Oh my stars, who invented this? What evil genius decided to combine little chunks of cheesecakey goodness with gooey-sweet strawberry syrup and swirl it into ice cream? We certainly savoured our little after beach treat here, as so many, many other Barrie folks have in the last 58 years in this place.

From those early days of banana splits and dipped cones, Dairy Queen seems to get better and better too. Remember when the Dennis the Menace gang were on all the DQ advertising, and by saying scrumpdillyishus would get you a 49 cent peanut buster parfait? Well, now you can even find poutine in Canadian DQs too. It would seem that the familiar favourites still remain while the new food items just cozy up to the old ones on the menu board. Sounds brilliant to me. So tell me about your good memories, what yummy treat have brought you down to the DQ on Bradford Street over the years?
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Summer Time in the City: New Fun Things to Try (and Eat) in Barrie

I love water! I like to be in it, on it, near it, whether it be sea or lake, as the cool blue of a body of water refreshes me in both body and soul. When I read that Barrie was getting a new water attraction this summer, I was pretty excited. Splash On Water Park sounded fantastic!

Anybody who knows me knows that I am a self-confessed chicken and that most roller coasters and amusement park rides scare the daylights out of me. So Splash On, with its soft, brightly coloured bouncy platforms, looked to me like something even this recycled teenager, with scaredy cat tendencies, could do. So I went.

My husband, and son and I went down to Centennial Park one finally thunderstorm-free evening. Looking out at the water park a few yards from the beach, we could see a swarm of young kids clambering all over the structure. They were obviously enjoying the sunny late afternoon fun, and their parents were enjoying the cheaper after 5 p.m. admission price.

We signed up, paid up and got our wrist bands and life jackets. Off we went, swimming out into the bay, which had reached a swimmable temp in time for mid August, as is typical of this deep part of the lake. We climbed aboard the inflatable structure and I immediately learned 2 things. The park is far more wobbly than I imagined and much slipperier!

Very soon after this, and after several unexpectedly rapid dunks in the lake, I began to think that I might just be a little too old for this. Maybe. Just maybe. My theory is that if a 10 year old falls down 50 times, they will get up and run around laughing and jumping with no ill effects, but if a 50 year old falls down 10 times, they may not be able to go to work tomorrow.

My back told me that I should perhaps just stay in the lake next time I wiped out, and I listened. I enjoyed a nice dip in Kempenfelt Bay and got plenty of entertainment from the antics of the kids, jumping and hollering like kids should do in the summer. After my own 23 year old kid had had enough, we decided to go for a burger.

Our plan was to have dinner at the beach outpost of Kenzington Burger, but we didn't realize that they had opted not to open for the 2017 season due to the construction happening around Centennial Park this year. The near finished product looks great, by the way!

Not to worry, Barrie's inventory of fun dining establishments is endless, and we quickly had a Plan B in mind - State & Main in the new shopping plaza at Cundles and Duckworth.

Nothing like a swim to make you ravenous! After changing into dry clothes at home, the three of us headed over to State & Main, part of a young chain of Canadian restaurants with a rather American sounding name.

We knew that a dear family friend had started working at State & Main, and we saw her walk across the patio as we parked our car. Of course, we just had to ask the hostess to seat us in Della's section!

What a great menu! If you have read a few of my blog posts, you will remember that I am a quasi-vegetarian. A lot of the time, my choices are limited to a veggie burger or fish and chips. At State & Main, I was actually torn between a number of wonderful-sounding dishes - Long Beach fish tacos, jalapeno mac and cheese, Pacific Rim noodle bowl. In the end, I chose the applewood salmon club.

So this is no ordinary diner clubhouse. Nope. Described as oven roasted applewood salmon, served on a toasted brioche bun, with roasted red pepper aoli, lettuce, tomato, peppered bacon, and fresh avocado, it sounded fabulous. Bonus: most menu items come with 2 sides! I picked quinoa salad and fries with dill dip.

The boys had heard tales of a legendary grilled cheese burger and never really considered any other options. They both chose fries with dill dip and caesar salads. My husband later got some bonus bacon strips after I removed them from my sandwich. (Crazy vegetarians!)

The plates were beautifully presented. Each white rectangular platter arrived with neatly placed and garnished colourful food items. Everything was prepared perfectly from the light golden touch on the grilled cheese burger buns, and the well-baconed caesar salads, to the tempting quinoa and the most finely shredded, bright green lettuce I have ever seen on a sandwich.

How can you tell if I or my family thoroughly enjoyed our meal? If we are already trying to figure out how to recreate it at home, it must have been a hit. What is in that dill dip anyway? Is it mayo, sour cream and fresh dill? I must have this for all of my french fries in the future! I guess we will be buying some loaves of un-sliced white bread very soon, because a grilled bread bun definitely trumps a plain burger bun. (Apologies for saying trump - ugggh.)

 Casual fine dining meets bar at State & Main in northeast Barrie. Dating couples, young dudes having beer and wings, celebrators of granddad's birthday, slightly damp post water park diners all enjoyed the vibe on the patio as the sun set over Little Lake. Give it a whirl. Ask for Della!

Player's Diner Slips into the History Books

In the days before the internet, if you were looking for a new job, you checked the back pages of the Barrie Examiner and looked in the want ads in the classified section. If you wanted to be quick off the mark, you picked up a copy of the paper at Player's on Dunlop St. because this shop was first in town to get the Examiner every day as it was printed just around the corner at 16 Bayfield St. I am sure that I found more than one job that way myself.

I wonder how many passersby never knew that there was a little diner in the back half of the store, or how many others popped in for cigarettes or a greeting card and were surprised to find a row of stools and little tables, high-schoolers with their Coke and fries, downtown shoppers taking a break for coffee and pie.

For the better part of a century, a smoke shop stood on this spot at 20 Dunlop St. E. Many remember it as the United Cigar Store with its unforgettable wooden Indian statue out front. I have often heard it mentioned but never saw it. I suppose the figure would almost be considered politically incorrect these days, but in the past it was a common symbol of a tobacconist just like the barber's red and white pole was a symbol of his trade.

By the 1970s, the name above the door was Player's. When I first remember it, the colour of the sign was teal blue, the same shade as the packaging of my brand of smokes (oh yes, I did), Player's Light cigarettes. Was the store named after the brand? I still wonder about that. I am pretty sure that those cigarettes were less than $2.00 back then.

As word spread recently of Player's impending closure, long time Barrie residents took to social media to share their sadness and also their brilliant memories of the last cozy Downtown coffee shop left over from Barrie's small town days.

I remember the juke boxes at the tables. If the song skipped, it was my job to go down and hit the side of the big one in the basement - scary basement! - Sandy O.

I remember my mom taking me there between grades 1 - 4 as a treat. The fries and gravy were the best. I loved being able to sit right at the counter. I felt like a big girl. - Samantha L.

The United Cigar Store ... I would go with my Dad in the early 50s for a grilled cheese ... great memories. - Valerie M.

Jean's pies were awesome! - Mary-Ellen G.M.

It must have been like homecoming week in the final days of Player's Diner. Many nostalgia seekers, myself included, stopped in for one last bite, to reminisce and to say goodbye to Moe, the last owner, who is retiring. Promenade Days was in full swing outside as my husband and I popped into the quiet of the little diner.

Our waitress, (and she really was a waitress in the traditional Mel's Diner sort of way), served us coffee as we scanned the old school, low tech menu above the open kitchen. Toasted western sandwiches. Homemade pie. Cheeseburgers. Liver and onions. (Sorry, but yuck!) Milk shakes. All the old favourites were there.

I ordered a mushroom omelette with home fries and Ron got an egg salad sandwich with fries smothered in gravy. Our food was cooked on a flat top grill and an ordinary household type stove by Moe's wife, Ranjeet. One cook, one server, plastic blue checked table cloths, 7-Up menu board, a phone book and leatherette stools - we will never see the likes of this again in Downtown Barrie.

Out-dressed by Chavo Crepes

Hair un-brushed, no make-up on, not even any socks despite sub zero weather. I was heading to the bus terminal this morning with Margaret, just dropping her off and then popping back home, or so I thought. Dammit, we missed the bus! With another bus coming in an hour, we could either go home again or kill 60 minutes in Downtown Barrie. We decided on option #2 and went to look for a coffee shop. As we strolled past Memorial Square, I spied a warm and friendly Open sign on Chavo Crepes across the road at 74 Dunlop Street. "Hey, let's go there!"

Margaret wasn't sure. She figured that nearly every menu item would most certainly contain Nutella. Meanwhile, I was looking for something breakfasty, and I was picturing some sort of cheese crepes rolled up and sauced, served fast-food style in a venue much like the short-lived Beaver Tails farther down Dunlop St. You know - somewhere that no one would notice that I had just jumped off the couch to give someone a ride, skipping most of my beauty routine, and looking more unkempt than I would have liked.

Um yeah. Chavo Crepes is very nice inside. Very, very nice. We were greeted by a tall man who reminded me of waiters I have seen in Paris, and he waved us to a seat near the back of the long narrow restaurant. Slim and chic, very elegant, some of the prettiest lighting I have ever seen, I was not expecting such a stylish interior.

We ordered tea. What we were not brought was a stainless steel teapot and a white ceramic mug, but instead a tray of tiny, colourful tins, all of them decorated with unique names and designs, and each with the words Smell Me printed on the lid. So we smelled them. Every tin was a small treasure chest of fruity, spicy goodness, floral scents, nutty aromas - not your grandma's tea collection! Very hot water served in a tall glass mug arrived on a saucer, accompanied by a long spoon and a small ramekin to sit the tea bag. My apple chai tea ingredients were encased in a drawstring bag which floated in the water and slowly turned it from clear to amber brown. Margaret's tea turned rosy pink.

The menu was diverse and appealing with lots of non-dessert crepes on offer. Our crepes, both smoked salmon with a homemade dill-cheese spread on buckwheat, were simply amazing! They were artfully presented,topped with capers, red onion and lemon, and served with a spring mix-apple salad drizzled with a house Bulgarian style pesto dressing.

We savoured every last bite, then lingered over our delightful tea, almost missing a another bus! What unexpected little jewel we stumbled across today. Thank you so much for a lovely brunch from the frumpy girls at the second last table. We promise to be back and be more presentable next time!

Nibbling and Sipping in Toronto

I am a little jealous. Yes, I am. Last winter, my daughter moved into the cutest little room in a century home in Toronto, in Baldwin Village, a stone's throw from Chinatown and Kensington Market. To step out the front door is to step into the shadow of the iconic CN Tower, and into a sea of multicultural passersby all heading to funky little coffee shops, ethnic markets and indie mercantiles. The world is here. Chinese traders, hippies of all ages, art students, musicians, pot heads, baristas, and cyclists, Rich, poor, gay, straight, vegan, carnivore, young and old. These neighbourhoods are alive!

So I took the bus to Toronto last weekend - city driver I am not! My girl met me at Union Station and she set me up with a TTC rider pass, which I certainly needed as she whisked me all over the downtown area, both above ground and below, by bus, streetcar, subway and on foot, until my usually excellent sense of direction was mush.

After dropping my bags off at her place, she asked me what I would like to do next. Well, eat of course! We had encountered so many tantalizing smells of cooking on our way to her home, scents of garlic and ginger, the multilayered spices of Chinese and Indian cuisine, hints of citrus from open air markets and freshly ground fair trade coffees. I wanted in on that, but where do we start?

Don't ask me how we got there, but our first stop was actually a chain restaurant that  did not seem like a chain restaurant. Before looking it up later, we assumed it was a one-off eatery, as it appeared very natural in its surroundings, sort of rustic in decor and so fitting to the style of the neighbourhood that it must have evolved here. We had stumbled upon Bare Burger at 111 Dundas St. W, and we were glad we did!

Likely you have tried a couple of the local burger places in Barrie where you choose your patty, bread, toppings, sauces and sides from the menu and the kitchen creates a unique burger for you. Or you can pick a pre-curated hamburger already designed to please. It took us a while to decide. Part of my dilemma, as a nearly full time vegetarian, was the surprising amount of choices I had. Normally, there is a veggie burger on the menu. Bare Burger has three! In the end, both of us opted for the Farmstead Burger, which is a sweet potato and kale patty served with the most dreamy (and messy) green hummus, tomatoes, baby kale and a avocado basil dressing. Yum-eee! Four thumbs up.

Next, she zoomed me over to Roncesvalles Avenue where we perused some kitschy little shops before stopping in at Extra Butter for the best chai latte she had found in town yet. Small, unassuming and sparely decorated, my daughter and I sat sipping our fragrant lattes while wondering at the seemingly hand printed faux wallpaper. Is this silver paint and a Sharpie? Someone with a steady hand and a lot of patience must work here, and she was right - this is the best chai ever!

Many stores later, we rested our shop-weary bones in a comfy booth at the Black Bull Tavern at 298 Queen St. W. at Soho St. We enjoyed a couple of tall, cool ciders in this friendly 180 year old pub before strolling on home for the night.

On Sunday morning, more magical mystery touring on the TTC, and this time we found ourselves sitting in a window-side booth in Golden Griddle looking across at the famed Maple Leaf Gardens. We fortified ourselves with the breakfast buffet before heading out to explore more of Toronto's heart, starting with a look inside the beautifully laid-out Loblaws store in the old hockey venue. Be sure to check out their amazing cake and pastry display, if you get a chance to drop in.

She has been dying to show me a certain little bohemian tea room, so we headed to a street car stop to catch a ride. We could hear some faint techno music in the distance. Was it coming from a shop or an approaching car? As it got closer, and louder, we finally saw a customized bicycle jacked up twice the normal height with what looked like a home stereo, amp and a generator strapped to the sides, pumping out a steady dance beat while Groucho Marx's double peddled steadily along. I have to say - I love Toronto!

The last stop on Margaret's must-show-mom tour was Bampot on Harbord St. Warm, cozy and cavernous, steps go up only to go down again, couch enclosures, pillow-strewn window booths, curtains, eclectic art and a massive wall of board games and tea. Lots of tea. I wanted to sit on a pile of cushions at a low table but my back and legs asked me not to, so I had to comply. Instead, we picked a nice (normal) table near the front door and picked out a game to play.

The tea menu is like nothing I have ever seen before - so many types and sub-types, detailed flavour descriptions and healing properties on a menu that seems more like a tea reference book. Margaret chose a milky honey spice tea, while I was immediately hooked by the name Crabby Rab's Hot Toddy, described as "Inspired by a Scottish granda as crotchety as he was kind, this is the closest you will get to an alcoholic beverage in an unlicensed tea room.'' The menu called it smoky and peaty, words more often used to characterize a whisky, and they were very accurate. Even the aroma, with my eyes closed, brought me back to the small Highland villages of my early childhood and the smell of the cottage fireplaces. Amazing that a tea can do that.

So yes, I am fairly envious of my daughter's adopted city and all the fun little shops, one-of-a-kind eateries, human oddities and the kaleidoscopic mix of architecture, ethnicity and lifestyle. Toronto, you and I have been neighbours for years now and I feel like I hardly know you. Let's work on that, okay?

Bourbon at The Simcoe Hotel: If These Walls Could Talk ...

When this farm girl arrived in the big city to attend college, the population of Barrie was around 45,000 people. I was excited to be living in an urban area for the first time in my life, eager to spread my wings, make new friends and have a bit of fun. I was given bits of advice from those who had lived in Barrie longer than I but, of all the many pearls of wisdom given by locals of my age group, I only really remember one. Never be seen coming out of the Simcoe Hotel. 

I am not exactly sure why I was supposed to avoid this particular establishment as there were plenty of other taverns of a similar vintage in Downtown Barrie - the Wellington, American, Clarkson and the Clifton over on Bradford Street. They were all perhaps a little rough around the edges but very popular nonetheless. So why the Simcoe? That advice was given to me by a long forgotten person in late 1982, and in all the years since then, I have never been in. Until today, that is!

If the Y.M.C.A. once proclaimed that Barrie is the wickedest town in the Dominion, how bad must the Simcoe Hotel have been earn the honour/dishonour of being the most unsavoury in Barrie? These are stories that I would really like to hear and I hope that some readers might share a few as I am very curious now. Why was this fabulously unique and historic flat iron building held, at least for a time, in such low regard? Oh please, do tell!

The current iconic building that anchors Five Points today was built in 1877 by Michael Shanacy, to replace an 1850s era hotel that was destroyed by fire the previous year. I understand that the former structure, also known as the Simcoe Hotel, had a reputation for wild west style barroom brawls in the 1860s and 1870s. So in through the door that so many farmers, lumbermen and traders walked in and staggered out, I stepped into the front dining room to have some breakfast.

Today, the sign above the south facing entrance says Bourbon, which is the latest (since 2013) eatery to be located within the walls of the Simcoe Hotel building. The rooms upstairs are still rental units, but the restaurant and bar area got a major face lift in 2007 when it became the (now gone) Flat Iron Grill. The Bourbon offers popular fare such as caesar salad, wings, poutine, nachos and burgers today, and on Saturday and Sunday mornings, breakfast.

My husband, Ron, and I took a little tour through Downtown Barrie this Saturday morning and stopped in to old Governor Simcoe's namesake for a bite. I almost wish I had seen the before to appreciate the after, because what we found was a lovely little place, neat, clean, modern with a million dollar view of Kempenfelt Bay. On this sunny day, in this quiet eatery, I found it hard to imagine one hundred plus years of inebriated ruffians being tossed bodily out this very front door onto a dirt street. Darn.

Our server was a delightful lady with a soft voice and gentle manner. She brought us some robust coffees and we awaited our breakfasts in a comfortable 10 year old booth while looking out 140 year old windows.  The easterly view would have changed in 1994 when the Sam The Record Man store burned. The western view met the same fate with the loss of the Wellington Hotel in 2007. Somehow, the ol' Simcoe still stands strong.

Mmmm breakfast! Ron got the classic bacon and egg breakfast and I got a fluffy cheese and mushroom omelette. The only thing wicked or sinful that I encountered at the Simcoe Hotel today were the Bourbon's fried mashed potatoes! Yum!

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This blog post was originally written by me for barriearchive.ca and published there on August 8, 2016. Please check out this wonderful free, searchable online museum of Barrie's photo, audio and video treasurers from the 1880s until today!

Rock & Roll & Ribs: Switching to Glide With the Ninth Line

It was hotter than Hades outside, as it has been most of this summer. A barbecued rib festival was set up on the yellow, sun-fried grass next to a grocery store parking lot in a town a half hour drive away from my home. I still had a mountain of packing and organizing to do before our family was due to depart the next morning for a trip to the state of New York. Yet, I had to get there, just had to. Couldn't miss it. Did I mention that I don't even like ribs?

So what brings a time-strapped, shade loving vegetarian to a meat centered food festival 50 km from home? Nostalgia, that's what. My husband and sons were along for the chow down, but I was there to steal back just a little bit of my youth. The Bradford Ribfest has been held there for the past 4 years, just down the road from where I went to high school. The event was set up in front of a Zehrs store that didn't exist back then. I had fluffy hair and Road Runner jeans, and this was a farmer's field. But on this day, a concert stage set up next to Holland Street held the promise of a short trip back in time.

First things first. Nobody goes to a food festival and doesn't eat, so off we went in search of something munchable. Two of the guys are big rib fans, so they lined up under 2 separate giant barbecue banners. Patrick chose Richmond Hill based Pig Kahuna and Ron went to Billy Bones, out of Michigan, U.S.A., for his dinner. Mitchell grabbed some pulled pork and I wandered over to Billy Bob's Bloomin Onion to grab one of their signature deep fried offerings to share, and a poutine for myself. We met up under the welcome shade of a dining tent.

Since this event was a competition, and the vendors welcome being judged, I feel that I can put aside my usual rule against negative reviews this one time. Pig Kahuna was very disappointing. Perhaps the non-existent queue should have been a hint. Perhaps Canadian barbecue still has some catching up to do with our American counterparts? In any case, my #1 rib fan son, who dines  at every rib fest or barbecue joint he can get to, got a box of the driest, most sauce-less and flavour-free ribs he has ever eaten. He eventually went back and asked for more sauce but it helped little. They were a poor cousin to the juicy, tangy ribs my husband was happily attacking next to him. Patrick did not finish his ribs, which is unheard of.

Bloomin Onion, were you in competition too? You certainly lived up to your name, as your crispy onion delights were huge and superb. I loved the dipping sauce too, although I should have been smarter and asked for more of it. However, poutine masters you are not. The fries were good but sprinkling on a bare ration of some sort of grated white cheese, with a less than generous ladle of warm gravy, was not cool. Not cool.

Okay, we ate. The reviews were mixed but this nibbler was not really there for the food, odd as that may sound. My eyes wandered to the stage area as show time approached. I began to look for some familiar faces because I was expecting to see quite a few of my former classmates as we gathered to watch a 30 minute show 36 years in the making. For a half an hour, the 1980s would be given back to us in the form of the Ninth Line, as they sang the same songs they had often performed on the stage in Bradford District High School's cafetorium.

I positioned myself by the stage in hopes of getting some good photographs of the band. My vantage point turned out to be ideal for classmate spotting too. So many of my former school mates turned up - it was absolutely fantastic!  Nancy Jean, Marcia, Lori, Dawn, Jo-Anne, Rob, Jim, Joe, Jeremy, Mike, Matt, Rhonda, Darryl ... all appeared, some out of the recent past and others not seen for nearly 4 decades. Big hugs. Shouts of "Oh my God!" High waves across the crowded field. Short conversations yelled over loud music.

I know of no other event, other than our actual high school reunion 7 years ago, that attracted so many BDHS alumni. The big draw, that seemed to surprise even the Ribfest organizers, was very obviously the Ninth Line. Possibly, the Ninth Line band members themselves were equally surprised. The boys, including a sound engineer, a lawyer and a professional musician, stepped onstage to a welcome worthy of the Rolling Stones. Forget side entertainment at a food festival, this was the main event, a sold-out show in a huge arena. This was our band from our time.

For a short while, we were transported, brought back to our teen years. Country kids and small town kids, grooving the music of the Beatles, Eagles and Kings, remembering a time when our biggest stressors were math homework and finding a prom date. Matt, Joe, Mike, Jim and Peter may be part-time musicians today, but to me they are more like the pilots of a time machine with the dial set to 1980. Thanks for the awesome trip, guys. I look forward to the next voyage of the Ninth Line.

A Delicious Revolution Rocks Barrie

I buy a lot of frozen pizzas and chicken fingers. There! I said it. My secret is out. Ironically, those  purchases are mostly the result of my busy life as a full time cook who produces endless healthy, from scratch meals for low income people, and my part time endeavor writing about said healthy food! Well, how do you like that? Hopefully, that little confession of mine makes you feel just a little bit better about your own less-than-perfect shopping/dining habits, but you and I can do better. Yes, we can.

Real food is the best food. We all know that. The days of Beaver Cleaver's mother baking (non-bagged) cookies in her high heels and pearls are long gone, but we can try, little by little, to reclaim some of the lost skills of our grandmothers and re-introduce some wholesome foods back into our kitchens. Plant a little veggie garden - even a tomato plant in a balcony pot. Make a one dish casserole - Heaven knows there are enough online instructional videos for those! Shop more often at a local organics/health food store, farmers market, farmer, or simply spend more time in the meat, dairy and produce areas of your grocery store, leaving those highly processed foods in the centre aisles alone for a bit. Easier said than done, but I'm working on it!

It's not that we don't want to eat healthy food - we really do! Life often gets in the way of eating the good foods that we need for that healthy life. Lucky for us in Barrie, there is a growing movement by some smart-minded local businesses towards creating healthy convenience foods. Many of these small producers are also offering delivery services. I met a few of them at the recent Food Revolution Day event at Barrie's Southshore Centre.

Whoa, back up a minute, what on Earth is Food Revolution Day? The movement, started by chef Jamie Oliver, aims to tackle some very important issues facing our food supply - good food education, access to nutritious food, food waste, sustainability of our supply, cooking as a life skill and supporting ethically produced foods. Food Revolution Day is held worldwide every year in May and as Jamie Oliver puts it, "Food Revolution Day is an opportunity to shout about good foods, get inspired to cook great food from scratch and be empowered to help change the global obesity crisis ... "

Cool. So what do we do now? I recommend baby steps - educate yourself, make small gradual changes for the better and most of all, be good to yourself. You and your family deserve to eat good things and be healthy. We know that time is always in short supply, so here is a welcome and radical concept - healthy fast food. It really does exist and you can get it in three (soon to be four) locations of AvocoBar in Barrie. curiousnibbler.blogspot.ca/avocobar-new-kid-on-block

Start your day off right, or snack time, or anytime  really, with the non-GMO, preservative free, hand made in small batches goodness of Not Yer Granny's Granola, created right here in Barrie. I have met the ever effervescent Fran Kruse before and watched her and her husband, Mark, work their magic as they create their tasty wares with the funky names - maple me happy, hello orange, pumpkin pizzazz and javanola mojo. curiousnibbler.blogspot.ca/confessions-of-granola-convert


I was very inspired by 2 young entrepreneurial sisters, Grace and Madeleine Dufault, of Y.U.M. (Your Ultimate Meals), who produce fresh baking, salads in jars and many other delights for sale online or at the Barrie Farmers Market.  Equally impressive was another young one, the teen son of Earth's Emporia's owner, who spent his entire day happily helping other vendors with their heavy loads, then bravely stepped up to the microphone to speak about healthy eating.

I also re-met two new faves of mine, from the recent Savour The Flavours Show, Chris of Momma Mari's Dressings and Sauces and Ally of Rabbit Food Bakery & Deli. I bought a bottle of Sneaky Momma barbecue sauce from Chris and we are really enjoying it with our barbecued foods at home. The sun dried tomato almond cheeze that I purchased from Ally called to me incessantly from the fridge and was eaten by me in one sitting. Sorry but it was damned good! curiousnibbler.blogspot.ca/the-curious-nibbler-returns-to-food-show

From my seat at the welcome table, I had a great view of Barrie's Garden Centre's lovely green display. My own small veggie garden at home is sitting empty right now waiting for me to get planting my pickling cucumbers, tomatoes, jalapeno peppers, lettuce and eggplants. I can hardly wait to get my hands dirty! There is a great feeling of satisfaction that comes from growing your own food from seed/seedling to something that can be eaten. Maybe challenge yourself to grow one small thing this summer, be it a pot of chives or planter of cherry tomatoes, that you can use in a meal later on.

Bring a little of the Food Revolution into your own kitchen and treat yourself the way should be treated. Be kind to your body, your family and this little blue planet. Viva la revolución!

7 Reasons Why I Love Lakeview Gardens

My deepest apologies to preteen boys. When I look back at my grade eight school year, I recall a lot of rather loud and rude guys. Sure, we girls were no models of elegance ourselves, but when I remember all the burping, cat calls and off-colour remarks from my male classmates, one oasis of civilized behavior stands out. Solid as a rock, always friendly and polite, never dragged into popularity contests or other muck. That was Rob. Carrying forth these positive traits, Rob Radcliffe is a successful business man today as part of Lakeview Gardens, the beautiful garden centre located in Innisfil, Ontario.

Recently, I made my second visit to Lakeview Gardens. I needed a Mothers Day gift for my mum and I was eager to take a behind the scenes peek at the greenhouse operations on their annual spring preview tour. Rob led the tour himself and when I left, I was thoroughly educated, energized for my own gardening and supplied with a collection of gorgeous and colourful garden flowers. Let me tell you some of the reasons why I am the newest big fan of Lakeview Gardens.

1. Bugs. Yes, bugs. I love to buy a few big baskets of flowers for my garden planters but I do not love chemicals. Without pesticides, I take a risk that the plants that I purchase with my hard earned money might be gobbled up by nasty creepy-crawlies. The Radcliffes employ swirskii mites, predatory good bugs that protect the plants in a natural way.

2. LG is a family biz. Since 1979, not too long after those eighth grade glory days, the Radcliffe family has called the nearly 3 acre property at 1712 Killarney Beach Road home. Rob's father, a Yorkshire born and trained horticulture specialist, is Stephen Radcliffe. In 1986, when previous business partnerships ended, Stephen partnered with his wife, the bubbly Gaynor Radcliffe that you will surely meet at the garden centre entrance. He also partnered with Rob at that time. Thirty years later, Rob's wife, Rosemarie, grown children, including  son Andrew, and other extended family members are vital parts of the team.

3. Everything is done by hand. Three generations of tireless workers, basically half a dozen people, hand seed 10,000 flats of annuals and vegetables. Every one of those flats contains 48 plants. Impressed yet? They also do 4,300 hanging baskets and an astounding 45,000 assorted pots from 4 inches up to 2 gallon sizes. These plants are also hand watered. Suddenly, my own gardening chores seem minuscule.

4. Bees. I love bees. We all should because without them, there is no food for any of us. If I wasn't such a chicken (bee stings - ouch), I think I would enjoy keeping bees of my own. However, I will leave that to the experts, the Radcliffes, who keep a few hives and produce some local honey for sale. Did you know that you must leave at least one third of the honey behind for the bees to eat over winter? These hungry little guys eat a lot too - between 40 and 60 lbs. of honey!

5. Parking is terrible. Actually, that is a good thing! There is a small lot and plenty of concession road to stop along, so who needs a vast car lot when precious ground can be used for so many other purposes? Believe me, the ground is well used. Lakeview Gardens has more than 26,500 square feet of greenhouse space and even the narrow patches of soil between the greenhouses gets tilled up for more planting space. No fertile corner is wasted!

6. Much more than a garden centre. Yes, you can drop by the garden centre from 9 -5 from Monday to Saturday, and pick up your flowers and veggie plants, but so much more than is going on than meets the eye. Lakeview Gardens has contracts to supply large customers such as cemeteries and military bases with flowers. You will also find Radcliffes, and their fresh produce, at 3 different farmers markets including the one in Bradford. How do they do it? Cloning or some sort of magic can be the only reasonable answer.

7. The Royal treatment. I have saved the best for last. Once Gaynor Radcliffe has learned your name, she will remember it and always call you by it. Any family member will carry your purchases up to the front cash for you and keep them off to the side until you are ready to leave. After that, you will be pleasantly surprised when your newly bought plants are carried out to your car. I challenge you to find that kind of treatment at any of the big garden centres.


Mrs. R, you did something right and you still are!

The Curious Nibbler Returns to the Food Show

That Sunday was cool and rainy with a Scottish mist rolling over the green hills of Tangle Creek Golf & Country Club. Never mind the dismal weather because all the action was indoors, where the Savour The Flavours Food and Drink Show was in full swing. Obviously, nobody told the golfers this because they teed off, one after the other, oblivious to the wet conditions. They can have their game. I will have mine!

Warm and cozy inside the club house, live acoustic guitar music, good smells, a bustling crowd of eager munchers and friendly greeters were waiting at the reception desk. Now this is my kind of day at the golf course!

I was accompanied by my husband and two of my sons, all of whom were immediately drawn to the first beer display that met their eyes. Side Launch Brewing Company, out of Collingwood, was offering up samples of their wares and the boys all tasted their Pale Ale, which promises to be balanced in the malt and hops department. This is a brew made in the traditional way, so their rep suggested it be consumed within a few months since it was unfiltered and free from preservatives. With a hot Canadian summer coming up, I can't think that many of their beers will languish too long in any fridges,

Okay, beer is nice but where are the munchables? Ah there we go - Cross Wind Farm had some nice samples of aged cheddar to try. I took a small square on a toothpick and immediately realized that this was not the cheddar I was expecting. Cross Wind is a goat milk operation. Sometimes goat cheese is rather strong, at least to my palate, but this was not. Different yes, but not overbearing. What I really enjoyed was their artisan chevre, which is a fluffy cream-cheese-like product available in many flavours. I tried the creamy dill - the fresh dill flavour sang out and once again, no strong goat taste.

There were a number of barbecue vendors at Savour The Flavours and I managed to visit Momma Mari, or at least her friendly and enthusiastic son, Christopher Marinakos. This Orillia based family has been dabbling in dressings and sauces since 1974 and have products in all kinds of local shops and markets. I asked Christopher for a sample suited to my self described infantile (too many heat receptors!) palate and he suggested the Sweet Momma. Mmmm a lot like Diana Sauce. To which Christopher added "But better."

I spent a fair bit of time chatting with the lovely young lady behind the Rabbit Food Bakery & Deli table. I was very intrigued to find the term vegan (as all of her products are) combined with the word deli, which makes me picture a glass case full of sliced meats and various sausages. She had a colourful display of wonderful little nut cheezes with lots of flavours to sample. I tried sundried tomato and cranberry - so good! When I tracked down the boys again, I steered them over to Rabbit Food. I introduced them as my cavemen, (sorry, guys!) and encouraged them to give the vegan fare a go. They were particularly impressed with her potato salad with vegan mayonnaise and her cheeze sauce that goes great on nachos or burgers.

Zing Zang is a well made and well named product. This company produces very flavourful drink mixes including caesar, margarita and pina colada and I can certainly see where the zing comes in. I was happy to try all three and I would say that all are fantastic. I could see my sister and I, and a bottle of that margarita mix, having a very nice little time beside her pool this summer.

Birch syrup is going to be the next big thing. We all know about maple syrup but why should the maple get all the glory with so many other potentially tappable trees growing in our forests? Napoleon's chef, Don Cruickshank, had a small bottle of it beside his barbecue last year and that was the first time I had ever heard mention of it. One year later, I found an entire booth dedicated to the educating, sampling and selling of birch syrup and its by-products. The Canadian Birch Company is leading the way with its Manitoba based business. I am not much of a sweet tooth, but the syrup was good and I can imagine myself using it for some nice barbecued blackened salmon à la Chef Cruikshank. 

Such a crowd around Superior Meats! This company is not new and their products are available practically everywhere, but folks sure were keen to line up and try their samples. I considered passing by but a small card with the words English Smoked Wildwood Cheddar Cheese kept me firmly rooted in place until I got my reward - a small but flavour packed taste of cheese gold. 

Ripe Juicery has been in my favourite neighbourhood, Downtown Barrie, for a while now but I have not yet been in to visit. Lucky for me, Ripe had a tasting booth at the Savour The Flavours Show this year. Tiny cups of vibrantly coloured liquids were laid out on a wooden board. I just had to try them all. You will not believe this number, but 3 - 6 pounds of fresh produce go into every 500 ml bottle of Ripe juice! I sampled green (cucumber, kale, lemon, parsley, pineapple and romaine), then orange (mainly carrots and oranges) and lastly the brilliantly purple sweet beet. I have never liked beets, (too earthy for me), so this last drink was not my thing, which proves how authentically beety this fresh concoction really was. 

It was still drizzling away when we left. We decided to finish off our nibbling with a visit to Smoke's Poutinerie, one of several food trucks stationed outside the Tangle Creek clubhouse. Mmmmm fresh hot fries, cheese curds covered in steaming gravy on a cool day - why not?!

And so all of the flavours of 2016 were well savoured. Definitely looking forward to what 2017 might bring!