The Karma Project

How I love the Karma Project! What started as a little community storefront in 2007, expanded into the space next door and started serving food, and has grown steadily into to so much more. The community garden is at the epicentre of this operation and offers garden plots to local citizens for a mere $20.00 a year, while providing fresh produce for the local women's shelter and more.

As in it's beginnings, the Karma storefront endeavors to offer crafts, jewelry, preserves, produce, art works and herbs that are local, organic and fair trade. The little cafe adjoining it goes one step further with a concept that was new to me - the pay-what-you-wish kitchen. That's right, you pay what you think the meal is worth! I am told that musician, Jon Bon Jovi, runs a similar eatery in New Jersey known as the JBJ Soul Kitchen, where there are also no prices on the menu.

In summer, good things are constantly coming in from the community garden and from local producers, and being snapped up by shoppers, made into meals in the kitchen, stuffed into food boxes, shipped off to Christian Island where no grocery store exists or sold at farmers' markets. And in the midst of all this activity, teaching goes on, or more accurately the re-teaching of once common skills that have been slowly slipping away. How many of us today could successfully grow their own potatoes or know how to make sauerkraut at home? The Karma Project wants to help people to get back to their roots, quite literally.

The face of the Karma Marketplace is Erin Chapelle, a lovely nature's child who exudes warmth and a great passion for what she is doing. She is so busy and so energetic. When she explained all the activities she and the Project were involved in, I thought this woman must dream about Karma at night. She and the Karma Project are a great fit for The Huronia Food Trail.

I haven't seen a full menu for the kitchen side of the Karma Marketplace, but that may be because it changes daily according to what delights come in from the fields and gardens. While our media tour group was there, we munched on a rustic and garlicky dip made from sunflower seeds and surrounded by a rainbow of multi coloured organic carrots. Yet another glass of lemonade was downed by most if not all of us, even though we'd been offered some at a number of previous tour stops, but on a day as hot as that one was, you can never have too much fresh lemonade!

I must admit I hadn't been very aware of these kind of movements until recently. My eyes are being opened to some of the wonderful things that are being done locally, mostly by young people, to promote sharing, growing, teaching, sustaining, and cooking. I have seen snippets of information about places in my own city of Barrie, such as the D.I.Y. and the Unity Market, but I realized I know very little about their mission. I must make it my mission to find out.

Check out the Karma Marketplace's Facebook page - there's a lot of great info. and photographs there! And watch the beautifully produced video on this page http://vimeo.com/62383802 that really gets their message across.

The Works - It Works For Me!

Apologies in advance for the lack of photographs, but our venture into The Works Gourmet Burger Bistro was a last minute decision after a long, hard day of perusing craft displays at Kempenfest under the bright sun! Yes, yes - I should have a phone and/or camera of my own with me at all times, and it may very well come to that soon, but for now I'm resisting 21st century technology as much as a food blogger can. I'm sure The Works won't mind if I borrow a pic or two from their website to showcase their goodies.

We parked our car on Mulcaster St. and walked down to the festival, passing several Dunlop St. eateries and discussing their virtues on the way. My husband, 19 year old son and myself wondered out loud about The Works - we had heard mixed reviews. I said "There's only one way to find out for sure!" A few hours later on, we were definitely ready for something to eat, and there was The Works again so in we went. You will find them just a few paces west of Mulcaster St. on the south side of Dunlop St. E., number 137 in a long narrow space with a lake view at the back. I'm sure my eldest son played a show here once with his metal band during a previous life of this building.

The interior decor is very industrial, with exposed brick, rough wood floors, pipes and gears, corrugated metal and even unusual serving vessels like glass measuring cups for your drinks and tin cake/roast pans instead of plates. Very funky! I understand The Works is a chain restaurant, but I didn't get that feel. Lots of young staff around - I figured it was all hands on deck with Kempenfest in full swing nearby. Our server was Shayla, a super enthusiastic server, definitely in the right job.

And then there's the menu - oh wow! At first glance, it seems complicated. With several dozen burger selections, you might get a little alarmed, but once Shayla gave the 30 second burger course, I was much better. Pick your bun. I took whole wheat. Take note - they have gluten free too. Pick your burger. I'm sure most diners choose ground beef, but there's other choices like chicken, turkey, elk, veggie or even a huge portobello mushroom cap! Then pick your topping either by name or by number. Our son, who considers himself a master barbecued burger chef (and nearly curled up and died trying to find a decent burger on a trip to Scotland last year), chose the juicy lucy, which he told me, between big bites, contained an awesome garlic sauce and a cheesy seeming burger patty. My husband and I both got the teriyaki melt containing teriyaki sauce, sauteed mushrooms and swiss cheese, which begs the question - why have I never thought of putting teriyaki sauce on a burger before??? A new jar will be appearing in my fridge this week.

The food was absolutely delicious. My veggie burger was huge and I was quite stuffed when I left. In fact, I was so stuffed I never ate another thing all day. I was even too full to have any desire to write about it until the next day! Of course, I could have used a bit of self restraint and left a bite or two, but it was too good!

The fries were really good and so was the gravy, which is vegetarian friendly by the way. The pop was refilled often without a word. I saw the apparently famous tower-o-rings go by a few times. It's a tall stack of onion rings on a pole and it instantly reminded me of the old Fisher-Price stacking game for kids. Next time, I might try the poutine which is served in a bucket! 

So yes, there's only one way to find out if a restaurant is as good or as bad as they say - go and have a bite for yourself. It's only a gamble of a few dollars and an hour of your time. These three gamblers hit the jackpot and will be back I'm sure!

We Love The Moose!

I remember when Moose Winooski's was the new thing on Bayfield St. That must have been in the mid 1990s, because my eldest son, now 23 years old, celebrated his ninth birth there. It was also one of the few sit down restaurants we dared go to. With a gaggle of 5 kids, we usually chose take out or fast food, so we could make a quick exit when the troops got rowdy, but Moose Winooski's has a nice little corner play area complete with toys and tv. They also use paper table cloths for families, complete with lots of crayons, so the little scribblers can get their art on.

It's probably been a few years since I was in for a meal, even though Moose Winooski's is more or less down the street from me. My kids are mostly grown up, and relatively civilized now. In fact, my youngest son recently did a co-op term as a host there and my middle son has worked in the dish room for the past 2 years. His ball hockey team, the Sky Pirates (don't ask), is mainly comprised of Moose employees and the management is very good at making work schedules that work around the games. As you can see, it's a real neighbourhood business.

Yesterday, we had the great honour of hosting a young Japanese exchange student for the day and were looking for fun things to do in the Barrie area. Taka is from Murayama, Japan, a sister city to Barrie. It's the same city that my daughter had the good fortune to visit last summer on her trip with the Barrie Youth Ambassadors. We started out at the Shanty Bay Go Karts and Mini Putt, followed by the Georgian Mall and then some down time with video games. We decided to top off our day with dinner at a virtual Canadiana hall of fame, Moose Winooski's

We had an absolutely delightful server named Lindy. She was just great, and very patient. I'm sure she had to come back three times to see if we were ready to order. Between indecisiveness, a minor language barrier and being very chatty, we took quite a while! We started with a warm artichoke dip and a platter of nachos and a round of assorted pop. Lindy brought jugs of pop after a while, so it seems the refills are free. Nice!

Appetizers were quickly attacked by the young people and our main entrees weren't long in arriving. Between the 7 of us, we had 2 orders of quesadillas, fish and chips, a Mediterranean wrap,  baked penne pasta, a turkey club sandwich and a chipotle chicken sandwich. We had some special requests - no tomatoes on the chicken sandwich due to allergies, a bread substitution on the turkey club and extra gravy for one of the french fries. All of those were attended to perfectly.

My fish and chips were really good. Seafood is the only meat I eat now, as I mostly follow a vegetarian diet. I order fish and chips quite often when dining out, and I am frequently underwhelmed by my meal. I wasn't expecting a restaurant that is known for it's ribs and wings to make a good fish and chips, but I was pleasantly surprised. The fish portion was large, soft, flavourful and perfectly golden.

It's no wonder that Moose Winooski's has been around a while now, when so many others have tried and failed to keep an eatery afloat. The Moose, as the regulars and employees call it, is the perfect package - fun atmosphere, family friendly, awesome food, superb service, community oriented, ideal for watching sports and being a shrine of all things Canadian, a destination in itself for foreign visitors.

Le Maitre D' Where Cultures Blend

Nothing was more welcome that hot day to our group of sidewalk weary, half melted writers and bloggers than the ice cold lemonade offered at a number of our tour stops. Inside Le Maitre D', a large bee skep shaped vessel filled with chilled lemonade was again the first order of business. We were pretty appreciative of their air conditioning too!

Located at 106 Main St. in Penetanguishene, Le Maitre D' is a fairly new, rather upscale dining establishment located in a building that has housed a series of restaurants over the years. They refer to themselves as being a "personal, neighbourhood style restaurant". I think a family would be happy to gather there and I also believe it would be a suitable location for a special occasion too. An 8 seat private dining room is also available for bookings.

The owner is Dave Brunelle, a true son of Penetanguishene, with very deep roots in the area drawing from French Canadian and Metis ancestry going back at least 4 generations. An experienced businessman, he has dreamed of opening a place like this. His grandfather was a fisherman and his grandmother was a cook of some renown, making feasts for her large family, church functions and community events. The family was involved in farming, hunting and producing maple syrup as well. Dave can bring all of these influences and experiences together under one roof at Le Maitre D'.

And what to eat? The menu is a nice size - not over extensive and not so small as to offer too few choices. Servers in black and white offered an array of sample sized menu items for our approval and we nibbled on tiny tarte au sucre (brown sugar pie), tourtiere (savoury pork and beef pie), tartare de coregone fumee (smoked white fish) and traditional aboriginal people's bannock. I must say that I couldn't get enough of the smoked white fish and have to confess that I had several tastes of that particular menu item, just to be sure!
I understand that the bannock has become a little bit of a local sensation because of it's inclusion on the Sunday brunch menu where it is featured in the cleverly named eggs bannodict.

Dave is another member of the Huronia Food Trail who is a great believer in obtaining his ingredients locally whenever he can. All his fish, including the smoked fish, comes from Lepage Fishery in Pentetanguishene which fishes the fresh waters of Georgian Bay. Fellow Trail members become suppliers too when Eco Huronie provides organic vegetables and the Karma Marketplace keeps Le Maitre D' stocked up on chutney, ketchup and jam.

Diners can savour the fresh and delicious cuisine while listening to the sound of local French Canadian music in the background. Once a month, these local artists preform live at Le Maitre D'. Be sure to have a look at the works by area artists on the walls, as well as the historical photographs of old Penetanguishene. Wines and beers from near and far are on offer to make your evening complete. In the words of the well crafted press release I received, "Because so much of what we do is authentic to the area, from recipes, tastes, entertainment, art, and its ownership, Le Maitre D' stands alone."

Harris Family Farm

Martha Harris strode across the front lawn of her century farm, when she saw our tour bus approaching, and waved eagerly at us, much as John Williams had when we arrived at his farm a few hours earlier. A large 19th century farm house, from the days of 10 children families, stood behind her and was surrounded by huge shady trees. Up the lane way, past a sheep filled enclosure, was a well maintained barn probably of a similar vintage to the house. What was built by the sweat and hard labour of men in the 1800s, is still being appreciated and well used today, which is something I love to see.

Martha was joined by her sister, Beth, and they explained that their younger brother, Robert, was somewhere about, but I got the feeling that he would prefer to toil in the background rather than meet nearly three dozen media types and their cameras! Martha gave us a talk about their operation which includes farm fresh produce, maple syrup, lop eared rabbits and the cornerstone of their business which is grass fed lamb.

I am from the very rural west coast of Scotland and my male ancestors were almost all shepherds in days gone by and a few cousins still farm sheep today. Visiting the Harris Family Farm took me back to my native Argyllshire just a little bit. Later on, I asked my father, a former shepherd himself, if he had heard of the Katadihn sheep that the Harrises keep and I was surprised that he had not. It seems that it is a fairly recent breed, only arising in the 1950s when a farmer in Maine, U.S.A. crossed a breed from the Virgin Islands with his own flock, to create a hardy, fertile, good eating, wool-less animal.

I had never heard of hair sheep before. It seems that they grow a heavy coat for the winter and then shed it naturally in the spring, just like a dog would, with none of the work or expense of shearing a fleece. Since the Harris family has no interest in wool and is focused solely on producing quality lamb products, this is an ideal breed for them. In fact, no wool means less lanolin, which in turn means less fat and cholesterol in the meat. The Katadihn sheep have other bonuses too such as year round breeding and twin lambs are very common, even triplets and quadruplets are not unheard of.

Under the protective shade of some willow trees, I found a pen full of gorgeous French lop eared rabbits. Someone in the group mentioned that they were also for food and I had a brief Peta moment where thoughts of facilitating an escape from Alcatraz crossed my mind. I didn't do it of course, but I felt sorry for them. It turned out that the earlier report of bunny burgers was erroneous and that the lops here are being kept for sale as pets or for exhibiting. Whew!

The Harris Family Farm has 2 separate gardens that I saw. The one to the right of the house, beside their newly built produce stand, is more of farmer's field with rows of bright green garlic plants, peas in full flower and other assorted vegetables, all straight and well weeded. Next to the house, on the left hand side, is a lovely mixed herb and flower garden with a circular centre garden with what looked like either melon or squash plants. Beth Harris, chief gardener for the family operation, freely combines herbs and flowering plants in the same beds and it looks terrific. I'm not sure why I thought they needed to be separate before, but I can tell you that I now pair them up together and will from now on.

You can visit Martha, Beth and Robert (if you can find him) at the farm from June until October. You can contact tech savvy Martha anytime through their website http://www.theharrisfamilyfarm.com/ , by email, or through Facebook or Twitter - she's got it all going on! They are young and energetic, but yet old fashioned perhaps and wise beyond their years when they proudly say "Our family is proud to carry on the farming tradition, in which shared knowledge, hard work ethic, and love for the land and animals have been passed down from generation to generation." I don't believe we are related, but I am pleased to share the name Harris with you!

Ciboulette et Cie

Well, it's 34 degrees celsius outside today, so I decided it would be a great day to write a little bit on the computer in the basement. Apparently, it's the hottest day recorded yet in the city of Barrie. This scorcher of a day is not unlike the June day when I accompanied the Huronia Food Trail media tour on it's rounds of the north end of Simcoe County. Thank goodness for air conditioned coach buses ... and basements!

One of our stops was the simple and lovely Ciboulette et Cie (Chive and Company, in English) located at 248 King St. in Midland. We stepped into a beehive of activity - customers lined up to pay for their goodies, others choosing still, servers serving and cooks cooking - and in walked 30 writers and food bloggers. The shop is current, yet vintage. Set in a long, narrow Victorian era shop, Ciboulette et Cie has the exposed structure and barn board accents you might find in a loft. There are signs overhead to direct you to where you want to be, whether it be coffee and pastries or the take out counter, and something I've never seen before - a store map.

We were waved to the back of the shop where we were introduced to the chef and owner, a seemingly young, dark haired French gentleman, Andre Sanche. A true Midland son, I thought to myself. I was surprised to learn that Andre actually hails from a francophone community much farther north, the small city of Elliot Lake, Ontario. "My husband is from Elliot Lake." I shared. "I like him already!" replied the youthful chef.

Andre is very enthusiastic about what he does. His shop offers home style meals and baked goods to eat now, eat later or stock up your freezer. He has gone to great lengths to partner with his fellow Huronia Food Trail members and others to cook with the most fresh, in-season and local ingredients that he can get his hands on. He even goes beyond food items and sources his staff aprons, wall decor and floral arrangements from local producers as well.

It's a great little place to nose around in. It reminds me a little of a smaller version of the Mariposa Market in Orillia. You can get an entree for your supper tonight, some preserves, maybe some fresh produce, don't forget some dessert and even the dinnerware to serve it on, all under this one roof.

Don't go to Midland without stopping into Ciboulette et Cie. Lucky Midland residents - they can drop in every day! It's the next best thing to cooking dinner from scratch using your own garden produce, but on a day like this I would prefer to stay out of both my kitchen and my garden! Let Andre take care of dinner tonight. Merci, chef!

A Bite At Midway Diner

What do you say that hasn't already been said about a restaurant featured just this week on the front page of the Barrie Advance, and who's walls are peppered with framed newspaper articles from the past? Not just local papers have proclaimed its virtues, the Toronto Sun has seen fit to write some kind words too, it seems. The Midway Diner on Bradford St. must be doing something very, very well to have such praise heaped upon it. There's only one way to find out what!

My family likes to eat. Any excuse will do. "Whew, that was a hard morning of garage sales! Let's go eat!" That's a very common one with my husband and youngest son. I mean they just saved a bunch of money buying things we didn't need anyway, so better celebrate with a breakfast out somewhere! I was actually shocked this weekend when they came home to get me before their chow down, saying "We're going to the Midway Diner so you can write about it." Wow, I smell a new excuse forming - going out to eat so Mom has something to blog about. I'm okay with that.

Apparently, Midway has been dishing up meals in this location for over 50 years now. I'm thinking this must be the current Barrie record for restaurant longevity. Can anyone top that? I'd love to hear about it. The building itself housed a shop, McGowan's General Store back into the 1930s, as shown in this fabulous old photograph courtesy of Sean McGowan, a member of the superb Facebook group 'If You Grew Up In Barrie ... You Remember ...' If you love old Barrie, as I do, you must check it out!

Now, as my teen son put it, the exterior looks a little 'sketchy', but that's only paint and it appears that some money has been spent on the interior, so don't be put off by the outside. The dining room is open and uncluttered, decorated in black and white tiles, painted in sky blue and bright yellow. Choose a booth, a table or slide onto a stool by the counter. Check out all the old head shots of long ago Hollywood stars on the walls. With my sub standard eyesight, I thought I glimpsed a nice photo of Elizabeth Taylor, but my husband corrected me - it was Tim Curry in drag. I think I need to change eye doctors.

A very friendly server brought us menus and offered us drinks. Based on recent newspaper photos I've seen, our waiter might even have been co-owner Matt Jones? My husband and son ordered their usual standard breakfasts, but were thrown a curve ball when offered a choice of home fried potatoes or fried mashed with onions. The son stuck to the tried and true, but Ron and I ventured into new territory and went with the mashed. So 2 bacon and eggs were ordered and a spinach and feta omelette for me.

The dining room buzzed with conversation. Servers moved in between tables chatting away as they worked and the atmosphere was more like having a meal at a relative's house than a restaurant. "Where's the rest of your kiddos?" one server asked of an obviously regular regular. I was also struck by how stress free all the employees looked. Some places, everyone looks frazzled and overworked, but not here, even though the restaurant was quite full during the time we were there.

Our food arrived and it looked great. Eggs cooked perfectly all around. Fried mashed was excellent! And our son's home fries were just like the kind you make at home in a frying pan. Everything was very tasty and our coffees were warmed up regularly. Our Saturday breakfast at the Midway dinner was a quality, well made meal and we went away happy with that.

Midway doesn't need much improvement. Maybe a can of paint, but I'm sure that's on the 'to do' list, and perhaps a debit machine as my husband prefers his handy dandy bank card over cash any day. I can certainly see why the regulars keep coming and I know for a fact that some are at least third generation diners, possibly more. The secrets to running a long term successful business are few, I would say - do something very well and just keep doing it.