food | — Catherine —Van Brunschot

Great Grub on Calgary’s Bikeways

Posted on June 5, 2016December 5, 2016 by cvanbrunschot

Like many Calgarians, my distrust of our local weather runs deep.

(Just ask Leonardo DiCaprio how quickly the weather changes around here. But wait – he thought he was experiencing something new…).

Little wonder, then, that when hundred-year-old high-temperature records were falling like poplar pollen in April, I was seized with the conviction that our city would soon exhaust its miserly annual quota of warm summer evenings.

Call me paranoid, but the feeling was unshakeable. So on a balmy Friday just ahead of a predicted weather change, I made the carpe diem decision to cycle against the flow of bike commuters to meet my Man downtown for date night. We’d been itching to try out the new Al Forno Bakery & Cafe near the intersection of the Bow River pathways and the 7th Street cycle track. As luck would have it, my Man had ridden his bike to the office that morning. The plan called for hauling our bikes back home on the C-train if we lingered past daylight or imbibed too heavily.

Sadly, the Man was delayed for an hour past the appointed rendezvous – leaving me no option but to settle beneath Al Forno’s skylights with a glass of red wine, a bowl of warm marinated olives, and a good book (do I know my Man or what?). The cafe buzzed with happy-hour revelers, laptop-absorbed writers, workweek-debriefing couples, and girls-night-out new moms, and a steady stream of nearby condo-dwellers pushed through the door for a takeaway meal or a coffee to go. By the time my Man arrived, every seat in the house was filled by others who, like us, were drawn by the wine and beer specials and the intriguing list of housemade pastas and bakery-fresh flatbreads.

The servers proved amiable and well-versed in the vino offerings, and the twin delights of gorgonzola/pear and potato/bacon/rosemary flatbreads had us planning a return visit before we’d finished the final bites. When we eventually unlocked our bikes in the pink and orange twilight, weekday worries had dissipated along with the day’s heat. A quick calculation of daylight and blood-alcohol levels deemed us fit for the journey home, so we decided to forgo the C-train option. Forty minutes later, we cycled into our driveway just as darkness descended – a happy reminder of how, even in April, our city is blessed with a long and lingering dusk.

Bike Month made its annual launch in Calgary this week – which got me thinking about other great food and libation venues that are easily accessed from our nearly 800 km of cycle paths. As an unabashedly fair-weather cyclist who rarely ventures beyond the Bow River bikeways, I offer up my favourite trailside pit-stops below.

(The more devoted cyclists among you would no doubt cast a wider net – so please do add to the conversation with your own recommendations.)

And let’s get out and enjoy the summer! We’ve got firm assurances from Dave Phillips (Environment Canada’s ever-popular-and-rarely-wrong Senior Climatologist), it’s going to be warm and dry!

River Cafe (Prince’s Island)

Nothing matches the leafy island location of this city-centre icon for a stellar weekend brunch. And I’ve lost track of how many times the cafe has appeared on lists of our country’s top restaurants for its thoughtfully-crafted farm-to-table Canadian cuisine. Procrastinators who’ve been shut-out of Calgary’s annual Folk Music Festival know that come July the cafe’s patio also provides some great unofficial ringside seats to the folkfest along with your meal.

Simmons Building (East Village RiverWalk)

Another addition to Canada’s Top 100 Restaurants list – though it only opened last year – is charbar, serving up meaty Argentinian-inspired cuisine from its wood-fired grill, as well as an array of vegetarian small plates for the herbivores among us. Sharing the gorgeous unconventional spaces in and around the historic Simmons Building are Sidewalk Citizen, with its artisanal sandwiches and overflowing pitas, and well-loved local coffee roasters Phil & Sebastian (who offer tours of the roasterie on Tuesday mornings). But the cherry on top is the oh-so-cool patio of rooftopbar@simmons with its unparalleled view of Calgary’s river panorama (and some tasty bar bites and gelato sandwiches, to boot).

Hose and Hound Pub and Gravity Espresso & Wine Bar (Inglewood)

Okay, so these two Inglewood favourites are not officially on the bikeways. But just a short detour off the river paths up 11th Street S.E. lie the sunny patios of two of my fondest places to lock up my bike and while away an afternoon. The Hose and Hound‘s location in 1907-built Fire Station No. 3 lends quirky historic decor to a pub-centric menu and craft beer tipples, while across the street at the Art Block the neighbourly welcome I receive along with my pinot makes Gravity my top choice of venue to write my first novel.

Extreme Bean Cafe & Eatery (Parkdale)

Heading west out of downtown, the river valley’s treasures turn to nature more than structure, but this cozy breakfast place-cum-Asian cafe-cum coffee klatsch is a welcome destination for weekday lunchers and Sunday morning caffeine-seekers. Operating out of a former Robin’s Donuts location since 2002, this family-owned venue offers bubble tea as well as wine and beer with its eclectic menu – and a stone fireplace to curl up near when my pedalling gets interrupted by a sudden hailstorm.

Angel’s Cappuccino & Ice Cream Cafe (Edworthy Park bridge north)

What would a westward cycle be without a stop at Angel’s (whose full moniker is larger than the diminutive interior of this aluminum-sided portable)? More than a source for sandwich wraps, home-baked goodies, coffee, and ice cream, Angel’s is also a godsend of pathside aid. They’ve got bike repair tools (supplied by Bow Cycle), first aid equipment (courtesy of Calgary EMS), and other emergency supplies – from battery chargers for stranded drivers to duct tape for hapless rafters.

Bowness Park Cafe (Bowness Park)

This old urban park, beloved to generations of Calgarians, will complete its phoenix-rise from the 2013 floods this summer – with a new wading pool for the little ones and a lagoon-centred sound system reminiscent of the park’s early-1900’s heydays. The miniature train will be back, too. Top of my discovery list this season will be the new grab & go market and full-service restaurant – Seasons of Bowness Park – scheduled for a soft-opening one day very soon. Can’t wait to check it out!

So tell me – where are YOUR favourite bikeway fueling stops in Calgary?

Turks + Caicos = Turquoise

Posted on May 20, 2016October 29, 2016 by cvanbrunschot

Beach at Bohio Dive Resort
Credit: C. Van Brunschot

Just back from Turks & Caicos – whose very name has always evoked the word “turquoise” in my mind. As in turquoise water and white sand beaches. As in long walks through the surf and lazy reads beneath a rustling palm tree. A picture-perfect location for this year’s dive trip with friends from another lifetime.

Donkeys drop by for drinks — Credit: Laura Jobson

Shunning the luxury resorts of Providenciales for the better diving prospects of the outer islands in the Turks & Caicos tiara, we landed upon Grand Turk – a modest island just 11 km long and 2.5 km wide, where on a hot afternoon the population of doe-eyed feral donkeys seems to exceed the number of human inhabitants out and about.

Of course, reality is always grittier than fantasy. Those photogenic donkeys are apt to rummage through garbage cans for discarded conch burgers and salad greens – and trash management is an issue on an island this small and breezy. At the Bohio Dive Resort, the accommodation leans to boxy; the rooms immaculate, but plain. Shops and attractions open and shutter with the infrequent passage of springtime cruise ships. My city-fueled energy always proves more difficult to shrug off than I remember and my over-stimulated eyes at first see nothing to discover in the pared-down landscape of a scrubby Caribbean atoll.

But the warm shallow water is indeed a stunning transparent turquoise and the beaches are powdery soft. What’s more, under the patient modeling of Bohio hosts, Ginny and Tom, and my dive guide, Ollie, I learn to adapt to the rhythms of island life and allow its muted treasures to reveal themselves at their own unhurried pace.

Turtle on reef - Grand Turk — Credit: Steve Dunk

A small spotted eagle ray fluttering across the sandy bottom. Adolescent turtles stroking gently through the current. Behemoth lobsters standing guard at the entrance to their coral abodes. Slender fish torpedoing above the water to drop soundlessly into the crystal clear ripples.

When the beach is near-deserted, my friend, Michelle, teaches me to stand-up paddleboard – with unexpected success.

Cockburn Town cyclists — Credit: C. Van Brunschot

Terra firma yields its own rewards. A pot-holed drive to the historic lighthouse brings secluded cliff-top views after the cruise ship zipliners have retired for the afternoon. The staff at the tiny, but fascinating, National Museum are knowledgeable and genuine; the museum’s collection and gift-shop both curated carefully. A cycle through Cockburn Town to the end of the island brings a friendly wave or two, and affirmation that the beaches do indeed go on and on and on.

Duck breast at Turks Head Inne
Credit: C. Van Brunschot

And what a discovery the food is! On the terrace of the Grand Turk Inn’s Asian-fusion restaurant, we savour an intricately-flavoured Red Snapper Thai Curry. A tender duck breast arrives on a pillow of sautéed red cabbage and potato mash at the newly-refurbished Turks Head Inne. And at the Bohio Resort’s airy Guanahani Restaurant and Ike & Donkey Beach Bar, the offerings are ever-generous: from home-style breakfasts abundant with seasonal fruit, to lunchtime fishcakes and gargantuan fresh salads, to a long and diverse dinner menu ranging from seafood skewers to bento-boxes to a chicken tikka masala with a West Indies bent.

Bohio Adirondack chairs at sunset — Credit: C. Van Brunschot

Within the week, the Bohio’s red umbrellas and Adirondack chairs become my oft-sought gems on Pillory Beach, and the discordant brays of quarrelsome donkeys fade to simple punctuation in the midnight rustle of the casuarina trees.

Soft memories to accompany me home. And perhaps one day to revisit.

“Big Stage” Vision at Calgary Food Tours

Posted on April 8, 2016November 18, 2016 by cvanbrunschot

Karen Anderson of Calgary Food Tours — Calgary Food Tours’ Karen Anderson (Photo credit: loree photography)

Those of you who follow my wanderings may remember that the amazing culinary adventure I took to India last November was ably and attentively helmed by Karen Anderson, founder/owner/operator of Calgary Food Tours.

My own introduction to Calgary Food Tours came a couple of summers ago on a Craving Kensington walk that began in the city’s only Relais et Chateau-affiliated inn and culminated in a sampling of small batch 24-year-old single grain scotch whisky that retailed over $150. Clearly not the stuff of your run-of-the-mill tasting tour. No surprise, then, that Calgary Food Tours, with its ever-evolving stable of carefully-curated food experiences in Calgary’s dynamic culinary neighbourhoods, is celebrating its 10th anniversary this month.

And in the spirit of “go big or go home”, Anderson is marking her 10th year with a bold proposal to expand to Edmonton and Canmore in a newly-envisioned Alberta Food Tours company. Partnering with ATB Financial’s Alberta BoostR platform, Anderson just launched a rewards-based crowdfunding effort this week – and her campaign’s early fundraising successes have already secured her a place at the Awakened Company live pitch competition on April 15.

You can check out Karen’s vision of a bigger stage for food travellers – and find links to her rewards campaign – on her Savour It All blog. See her schedule of upcoming tours at calgaryfoodtours.com

Sharing the Fever

Posted on March 23, 2016October 29, 2016 by cvanbrunschot

Cooking in copper — Credit: C. Van Brunschot

There’s a look that appears when a chef shares his/her work with you.

A banked fire behind the eyes. A quickening of movement like a tiger eyeing its prey. A lilt to the voice that hints of energy barely contained.

Sumeet Nair, Delhi — Credit: C. Van Brunschot

I see it in Sumeet Nair as he stirs prawns into his kadhai and talks us through the finer points of tempering India’s myriad spices. He offers techniques and tastes from a two-burner stove in his yard in a Delhi suburb, and his passion is palpable.

Sumeet, if asked, wouldn’t refer to himself as a chef at all. With his Stanford degree and his career in design, he might describe himself a skilled home cook at best, a product of parents “obsessed with food”, and a frequent dinner host to friends and colleagues. But his home is a 2.6-acre organic farm where he grows and grinds his own wheat; his kitchen, the daily well-spring of fresh homemade yogurt and chapatti bread; his garden, a laboratory of cultivation for anything that might grow in Delhi’s semi-arid climate. And a digression from his usual holiday destination in Goa to a bungalow in Tamil Nadu has seen him become lead author on a cookbook that attempts to capture the unique and disappearing cuisine of Chettinad.

Cookbook - The Bangala Table — Credit: C. Van Brunschot

“I sat behind a simple banana leaf on which 23 different courses arrived, ” he explains. “And the flavour profile was so different in each dish, the juxtaposition of flavours so scientific, that I thought: I have to document this food .”

The embers behind his eyes flare into flame.

Amritsar

I see the look again 400 kilometres to the north in the city of Amritsar, widely- acclaimed as the street food capital of India.

Hindustan Times article (15 Jan 2012) — Credit: C. Van Brunschot

Word has it that Bollywood stars flock here from distant Mumbai just to sample the vibrant offerings at its dhabas . It’s food that the Hindustan Times describes as “almost a character in itself, a sort of stereotypical Punjabi inviting you to share in his legendary largesse and appetite for life”.

Surjit Singh in Amritsar — Credit: C. Van Brunschot

The Hindustan might have been using Surjit Singh as their model for the stereotype, so apt is the description for the tall, crimson-turbaned man who welcomes us to Surjit Food Plaza. His manner is magnanimous, his smiles broad, but he is all intensity and attention when it comes to deciding what menu choices might best present his food to us. Surjit’s culinary career began in a small stand near the railway station where he drew fans for his unique masala-coated makhan fish. As his popularity soared, so too did his food offerings, and in 1976 he moved his kadhai and tandoor to his current location in the Lawrence Road food district.

His bright white digs may hum with fluorescent light and air-conditioning, but the kitchen on display through a wide pane of glass still lives in the alley – albeit the most speckless alley, I suspect, on the planet. It’s to here that I follow to watch him at work, tossing chicken tikka with vegetables and spices over a flaming grill. Here, too, I discover, is where his burn is the brightest and his hospitality billows warmest into the night.

Narendra Nagar

Viceregal Palace - Ananda Spa — Credit: C. Van Brunschot

High in the Himalayan foothills to the east of the Punjab, copper pots glow from their hooks in the sparkling demonstration kitchen of Ananda Spa. Built on the leafy palace grounds of the Maharaja of Tehri Garwhal, this spa restaurant couldn’t be aesthetically-further from Amritsar’s gritty streets – but a similar passion flames in the face that appears beneath the chef’s toque of Arun Kala.

Chef Arun Kala at Ananda Spa — Credit: C. Van Brunschot

Chef Arun has come full circle in the geography of his 15-year career: born and raised in nearby Dehradun, he earned his credentials as a pastry chef under India’s university culinary program, honing his skills at restaurants and five-star hotels around the country before venturing off to the UK. With notches to his belt from Aberdeen, Scotland and Michelin-starred Le Gavroche in London, Arun returned to his home state two years ago to skill-up in Ayurvedic cuisine at this world renowned resort.

His mien is earnest, his manner affable, as he fashions the locally-sourced pulses and organic greens into fine-textured soups and subtle hors d’oeuvres. But when our conversation turns to the Diwali sweets he learned to make at his mother’s side and the puff pastry I devoured with today’s mushroom ragout, his animation springs into full blaze.

There’s contagion in that look. A contagion that’s the fuel to my food writing. That has me mimicking the creations of Sumeet, Surjit, Arun, and others at home in my own kitchen. And that gives me the confidence – every once in a long while – to dare to create something new of my own.

Find It:

The Bangala Table: Flavors and Recipes from Chettinad (2014)

By Sumeet Nair and Meenakshi Meyyappan.

Available on Amazon.

Surjit Food Plaza

3-4, Ground Floor, Nehru Shopping Complex

Lawrence Road, Joshi Colony, Amritsar, Punjab

Ananda in the Himalayas

The Palace Estate, Narendra Nagar Tehri – Garhwal

Narendra Nagar, Uttarakhand

A New Orleans History Nosh

Posted on March 2, 2016March 2, 2016 by cvanbrunschot

Shaking out our umbrellas, we follow the barkeep’s nod toward a cayenne-walled room, where a dozen damp tourists mill around a man in a red felt fedora. A single long table set with white linen dominates the windowless space. Among the framed black-and-white photos that line the walls, a small plaque tags this “The Mystery Room”.

And the mystery? Why, it’s a former Prohibition-era speakeasy, says the behatted Naif Shahady. Of course! This is New Orleans – we’d expect no less…

READ MORE of my food tour column in the current issue of Taste & Travel International (tasteandtravelmagazine.com).

Uncommon Medley

Posted on January 26, 2016March 2, 2016 by cvanbrunschot

SURINAME.

It’s a name that draws a blank from even the most well-travelled. Call it the former Dutch Guiana, and some can place it in the western hemisphere: a wedge pencilled off the northern reaches of the Amazon rainforest; a mangrove-armoured coastline, barely accessible but for the rivers that pierce their way to the Atlantic. It’s a country in South America, but not of it – peopled originally by the Caribs and Arawaks, mostly bypassed by the Spanish, and thus sharing little, culturally, with the majority of the continent. Instead, the vagaries of history brought Dutch plantation owners and West African slaves to its shores; after abolition, workers from India, China, and Java. Centuries of mingling and mixing have created a true cultural pastiche – and a unique cuisine to match…

READ MORE of my article in the Winter 2016 issue of Taste & Travel International magazine – on shelves now at Chapters/Indigo stores across Canada and online at zinio.com.

Subscriptions at http://www.TasteAndTravelMagazine.com.

India – From the Flipside

Posted on December 6, 2015October 29, 2016 by cvanbrunschot

It WAS amazing.

Two intense weeks of indelible experiences: weaving through the holiday crowds of Old Delhi’s Chandni Chowk bazaar; mingling with pilgrims at the Punjab’s incomparable Golden Temple; dodging motorbikes on a high-adrenalin tasting tour of Lucknow street-food. We met and mentored with chefs in Delhi, Amritsar, and Narenda Nagar – and took our palates on a roller-coaster ride from the heat of a masala poriyal through the creaminess of a chicken malai tikka to the delicate nuances of a palak soup. And under the gentle guidance of Jojo Brooks, we practiced an unforgettable yoga session on a sandbank of the Ganges River.

India has so many stories to tell. Over the coming months, I hope to sort out and share some of them.

But after one week home, the impression of India that remains strongest with me is the warm and engaging demeanor of her people. From the first winning smile of the HI Travel rep who greeted me at Indira Gandhi International airport, to my final bear-hug with Luv Jawad (tour guide extraordinaire) in a Himalayan palace, the people I encountered throughout Northern India were amiable and interested and keen to connect.

Perhaps the young Sikh man I met enroute to his grandfather’s Punjabi home and the genial grandmother who was my seatmate on an Air India flight to Delhi were simply infused with the good cheer of Diwali. The classical dance troupe at the Amrit Rao Peshwa haveli and the attentive staff at Ananda in the Himalayas might only have been demonstrating their dedication to service. And maybe the rickshaw wallahs of Delhi and Varanasi were just gunning for a tip.

But there’s no denying the true generosity offered by Sumeet Nair, his wife, Gitanjali, and his daughter, Janaki, as they opened their home to us for a day of cooking and conversation beneath the huge ficus tree in their backyard. Nor the hospitality and inclusiveness of Prem Syal and his family and friends as they welcomed us to their spectacular Diwali celebrations. You invited us in to share your lives and your passions, and for that I will be ever grateful.

Kudos to Karen Anderson of Calgary Food Tours for the relationships she has nurtured over the years to offer these connections. Consider the stories to come a small tribute to you all.

Incomparable India

Posted on November 2, 2015October 29, 2016 by cvanbrunschot

In Rajasthan, India — Photo credit: Steve Dunk

Almost 12 years ago, I made my first trip to India, with a husband and two ‘tweens in tow. Together, we explored the princely palaces of Rajasthan, braved the bazaars of Mumbai, and breathed the mists rolling off the tea plantations of Darjeeling. We rode camels in the desert, spotted tigers in a nature preserve, watched the sunrise kiss Everest’s storied peak, and rocked-in the New Year in Delhi. Three weeks of sensory overload showed me only a sliver of all that is India, and I knew that I needed to return.

This month I’ll be back, sans children and husband (who are decidedly jealous). Under the guidance of Calgary Food Tours‘ Karen Anderson, I’ll be sampling Wazwan cuisine in Delhi, and Awadhi cuisine in Lucknow; learning the secrets of Chettiyar cooking in a chef’s kitchen and serving pilgrims in a community kitchen in Amritsar. We’ll explore Hinduism on the bank of the Ganges, Buddhism at Sarnath, Sikhism at the Punjab’s Golden Temple, and Islam in the architecture of the Mughals. We’ll practice yoga on the ghats of Varanasi and near the ashrams of Rishikesh. While we’re there, the whole country will explode with fireworks for Diwali – and we’re invited to the party.

It promises to be amazing.

New Website Launch!

Posted on October 12, 2015May 9, 2017 by cvanbrunschot

A novice goes for the bull's ribbon at the course Camarguaise — Photo credit: Steve Dunk

If you missed my article Sifting Through the Camargue in the last issue of Taste & Travel International magazine, you can read it on my new website: catherinevanbrunschot.com. (Check out my other work while you’re there!)