Summer food fun and drink - Prima Strada Pizzeria Cook Street Victoria · Saturday August 9, 2008 by colin newell
My mother grew up in Montreal, Quebec Canada in the thirties and forties – in one of the most culturally diverse neighborhoods the city had to offer. Heck, she had Oscar Peterson’s family as neighbors no less and actually got to sit in on jam sessions – Her neighborhood also included many first generation Italian families. And they shared their homes, their food and culture with everyone and anyone with an appetite.
When pizza places start to pop up in Victoria in the mid-sixties, she used to scoff at the menu citing: “This is not pizza! I will show you what Pizza is… the way the Montreal Italian families used to make…”
Her recipe: A very special dough. Left over tomato sauce from spaghetti.
And one very, very hot wood oven… 500 degrees (F) or more if she pushed it.
I know what you are thinking: But what did she put on the pizza?
I just told you.
In August 2008, Prima Strada Pizzeria’s arrival in the Cook Street village in Victoria brings some of that original and authentic Napoli style pizza – to a neighborhood, a city no less… eager to try something other than factory style pizza. You know the kind; 35 possible toppings and a crust so soggy that it’s inedible.
Pizzeria Prima Strada has gone back to the basics; 5 or 6 different styles and each one with only a small handful of ingredients. The Napoletana for instance, has tomato, garlic, anchovies and oregano. That’s what I am talking about.
Their Pizze is baked in a wood fired oven rated at about 800 degrees (F) – while we watched, Pizza went in one or two at a time and came out in under 3 minutes. The kitchen area hummed like a hydroelectric station and the floor staff couriered the fresh baked main event to tables within seconds of its ejection from the oven. We found the floor staff to be informed, passionate and motivated towards educating the customers without being overarching. All good.
On our first visit to Prima Strada, we tried the Salsiccia Piccanta; Fennel sausage, tomato, real mozzarella and roasted bell pepper.
Watching the preparation of the pizza from start to finish is oddly appealing, highly appetizing and ultimately satisfying as it arrives at your table (or bar position as in our case…) as fresh and hot as it can possibly be.
And the first bites? Personally, the taste experience of re-living something as simple as pizza from your childhood… Well, it is a powerful thing. On any other night, I may have been crying into my beer – tears of joy of course.
My mama is now 80 years old and I think she would be proud of what Prima Strada has pulled off. For me, her opinion would speak volumes.
But decide for yourself. Pizzeria Prima Strada has salads, some simple antipasti and a small selection of dessert gelato and sorbetto. Wine pairings appear moderately conservative and tasteful for this menu (Andrea and I had beer…)
We will be back soon. real soon.
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Summer food fun and drink - Some of Victoria's best · Friday August 8, 2008 by colin newell
It must be pretty obvious that I am fond of the food and drink scene in Victoria B.C. Canada – and I am not alone. My wife, Andrea, and I are on a 3 week unstructured break from work. We are spending a tad more time around the Victoria area than I thought we would – but the upside of this is…
More visits to the places we really enjoy.
Photo left – Your editor, Colin Newell, shoots with a Canon EOS-30D and a variety of modern lighting equipment – click pic to super-size
Like the Cafe’s and Cafe-Bakeries. My current number one pick right now is Bubby Roses Bakery (2) on Cook Street and Meares Avenue. Valerie and Mark Engels and their team of food Jedi pack a mind-boggling quantity of home-cooked love into every bite. No wonder. Mark’s attention to detail is not unlike a bald Eagle dropping into a mountain stream with its eyes on the Salmon. It never misses.
I had a visit from Poul Mark of Transcend Coffee, Edmonton, Alberta recently. As we tucked into 2 orders of French Toast, he commented on the samples of coffee he had; double shot of espresso and a macchiato. Keeping in mind that Bubby Roses gets their espresso from Discovery Coffee – “How are the shots”, I asked cautiously… Poul hesitated for a second, “These drinks are way better than Disco – which comes as a bit of a surprise to me…” – “Not me”, I replied. The boys at Bubby’s get the level best from this bean. The people at Discovery could equal it if they worked at it – but they are not going to best Bubby’s on anything. Yea, it is that simple.
If I had to pick one spot down town for a perfect mid-day pick-me-up when hunger calls it would have to be Paradiso De Stelle… The Paradise of Stars is aptly named. The staff look like they are chiseled out of Italian granite – and that is not one word of a lie. If you like looking at young people while they whip up the cities finest Panino Gelati and espressi perfectamente – Then the Paradiso is the place. My buddy Italo has been running this place for over a decade – and he has a new place at the Mayfair Mall. Paradiso de Stelle is one of the best spots (at the base of Bastion Square) for people watching – because with pretty staff come pretty customers – not quite sure how that works… but that is the way it is.
Have a hankering for a coffee and panini on the West side of town? Buon amici’s is to coffee and lunch what Bubby Roses is to wonderful baked goods on the East side of town. Derek and his lovely wife Gina are grand-masters of the perfect latte as well as hosts of an increasingly popular Friday BBQ at their Tyee Road location. Our little secret… to you!
Looking for a wonderful meal in James Bay, Victoria and don’t have a sack of Gold for dinner? Consider the Heron Rock Bistro The Steak Fettuccine or Steak Frite are 2 of my favorites. They have an eclectic menu with suitably quirky wine pairings.
In a World as deeply troubled as our own, we are truly blessed living in Victoria – arguably the most peaceful little corner of our green little orb. Dig in. Enjoy it.
In a continuing series on what’s hot in the Victoria food scene, writer, blogger, photographer and all around decent Man, Colin Newell, reports directly from his plate to you
Summer fun food and drink - Breastfeeding in the upside down Universe · Thursday August 7, 2008 by colin newell
If you watch as much TV as I do (and it isn’t really that much…), what do you see?
Murder, mayhem, carnage, chaos, sadness, hunger, and death…
And that’s just what’s on Food TV’s popular, Chef Ramsay.
Tune around ABC, NBC, CBS or Fox… and CNN and you are assured of seeing a never ending body-count; kidnapping, gun shot fatalities, homicide, serial killers… all in mind boggling detail.
And yet when a woman feeds her baby, in public no less, the reaction from the surrounding public can vary from casual indifference to self-righteous indignation and utter contempt.
I mean, I would understand someone reacting with unbridled horror and revulsion if I pulled a Canada goose out of a giant paper bag and slit its throat with a K-Bar knife, tossing it onto a Hibachi on a busy street corner and serving it up with a tossed salad. That I would understand. A Canada goose, after all, is a sacred creature.
Breastfeeding, next to stopping at Starbuck’s for a double-tall decaf latte, is one of natures original methods of infant nourishment. So what is the big deal? Sure, breasts are sexualized on women – so what? It takes a deeply disturbed psyche to be perturbed by a new mom and her un-weaned young’in taking in a few dozen sips of Planet Earth’s first beverage.
So. It is with no surprise to me whatsoever that protests are popping up (or out) all over the place – At the H&M Store in Vancouver for example, where a young Mom was hustled into the back of the store by a brace of apoplectic staffers – shortly thereafter a coven of lactating mom’s showed up for a protest or circle squirt of sorts. God bless ‘em!
And Hey – Having worked at a University for over 20 years seeing virtually every square inch of male or female flesh exposed (especially this time of year…) all I can say (or feel) now when I see a mom and baby feeding is: “There is a happy baby and at least it isn’t crying…”
Maybe these weird folk suffering from breast aversion need to spend some flying from here to there on a jumbo jet filled with implacable babies screaming their heads off – if only to appreciate the simple joy, simplicity and honesty of that one moment – One mom, one breast, one baby… in perfect harmony and silence.
Summer fun food and drink - vacation from sunspots · Saturday August 2, 2008 by colin newell
I am starting a 3 week vacation today and we are pretty much playing it by ear. We are, quite literally, in the dark about what we are doing… where we are going exactly.
I would tell you if I knew. But I don’t. So I cannot.
What did cross my mind today (am I am talking quite extemporaneously now…) was that people who do things at the last minute are the bane of security hawks very existence. What do I mean by that you ask?
Well. Did you know that there are cruises line in the U.S. that (choose to) report every single guest they are going to have on their cruise to the F.B.I. and/or homeland security. Not every cruise line does this. It means that before you hit the lido deck on Day one of your Caribbean cruise, the men in black are aware of your location – right down to the GPS location of the ship.
Not me though. And it got me thinking again: What if I dropped into WestJet.ca or AirCanada.ca and picked up a flight… for say… tomorrow morning? I mean, there have to be empty seats on planes all over the place. Or what if I decide to fly to London, England… like… tomorrow? Would that not upset some security suit somewhere. I mean, that whole not knowing where I am at any given moment can quite literally drive someone out there… mad. Mad I tell you… Mad.
Next item. Sun spots. No, not age spots. Sun spots.
I have been a radio guy since 1971… when I was young. Very young. I will keep it simple and say Ham radio – which for the purposes of this entry is the suitable term. Most people know what Ham radio is… so I can skip the long definition.
Anyway. I have been observing all the neat science things that are needed to make this hobby work… for 38 years. And the primary thing that makes Ham radio work… and the ability to talk to and listen to radio signals from around the globe (without the internet folks!) are sunspots. Sunspots. Not age spots. Sun spots.
Sun spots come and go. They generate some of the forms of solar radiation that energize the Earth’s ionosphere – that allow radio signals to bounce around – like at night time when you listen to San Francisco from your cabin in Anchorage Alaska. Most people have noticed that AM radio signals carry a lot further at night then it does during the day. Conversely, FM radio rarely skips. It does more often than people realize… but that is another medium.
Photo above – a recent picture of the Sun which should be festooned with at least one big Sun spot. Instead, nothing.
Long story short: Sun spots go through cycles of intensity that last 11 years. And these Cycles have been going on without interruption for hundreds and hundreds of years… thousands of years… since the beginning.
Uhm. With some exceptions. Like the 17th and 18th century. When there were, how can I put this… mini ice-ages. Doldrums. Periods when there were no Sun spots for several decades at a time. Triggering brief global Ice-ages. Albeit Small ones. It effected the whole planet. Normally moderate climates like the one they have in London, England — In the 1700’s, the Thames River would freeze up solid 3 weeks of the year… year after year… for about 20 years.
Like I said: I have been observing solar cycles for 38 years. And something is amiss. But there is no immediate cause for alarm… like not in the next week or so anyway.
To a geophysicist or a radio science guy like me, being told that a Solar cycle is not starting is kind of like being 21 again and having your girlfriend tell you she’s late.
If you get my drift. It is a scenario that has long term consequences. That are almost immediate – once it’s confirmed.
We have just concluded Solar Cycle 23 and Solar Cycle 24 was supposed to start… a year ago.
So listen up. The term Solar Cycle 24 could very well become a household phrase over the next 6 months. In some ways, it could be coming at a good time… and at a very bad time.
Do yourself: Google Solar Cycle 24 right now. And strap yourself in for an interesting ride. More scholarly reading here
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