COVID 19 Chapter 1 A great business neighbour Root Cellar · Tuesday March 17, 2020 by colin newell
This letter was sent out by Root Cellar Market within the last few days – it’s brilliant – it deserves a full read.
So these are interesting times, and before I forget, we have adjusted our business hours and will be closing at 7pm effective immediately.
Also…your specials are at the end!
As I knelt on the floor of my store today, marking off the recommended ‘social distancing’ boundaries for our till line up, trying to infuse a bit of lightness into our customer’s day by writing friendly reminders on the floor… I had one of those ‘is this real?’ moments. Am I really kneeling on the cement floor as customers walk around me, asking people to respect personal space for the safety of others. I never thought I would write #personalspaceisthebestspace in relation to the running of my grocery store… but here we are, all of us, in this together.
Before I lose you with my long winded message, I’d like to speak to ‘panic buying’. Please STOP. We aren’t seeing it here, and for that we are grateful. This causes unnecessary stress on the supply chain, on staff in stores, and renders others without. I want to assure you that we do not have supply chain concerns, we will be here for you, with food on our shelves. You will however, notice a few compromises being made in our store due to lightened staff levels, we ask for your understanding as we prioritize everyone’s health and safety by having fewer staff on shift at any given time, (for example, we will not have baggers on our tills, and you will see a few less options here and there in order to accommodate our increased sanitation procedures).
There’s no course for this in business school (I didn’t go). But should there be? Probably not… what there should be is a course on trusting your instincts, in engaging with your team & your customers to ensure that their needs are met and their fears are abated. This is what we are focused on right now. On ensuring that we are doing ALL that we can within our resources to represent our space as local entrepreneurs, as grocers, as friends, family and parents with the utmost integrity.
We assure you from the bottom of our hearts that your health & safety is of our utmost priority. We are grateful that as a small business we can respond with immediacy to our rapidly changing circumstances. Today for example, following the provincial news briefing, we immediately removed all customer seating from our store. Thanks for coming, but please move along, for the health and safety of all.
Our current circumstances and recent call for all to ‘social distance’, will deliver quite a blow to our island economy, first to the small businesses that define our culture here in Victoria. As a member of the small business community we feel that it’s our obligation to urge you to make mindful decisions when choosing where you spend your dollars.
We can only speak for our own store, where our customers thus far have impressed us beyond belief with their overwhelming support, and their rational shopping habits, allowing us to manage the slight increase in sales volume without making huge compromises.
Think also of your grocery list as you write it, we are a small business, so is Fatso Peanut Butter, so is Golda’s Pesto and Saltspring Jam, not to mention the farmers growing this season’s local produce, about to be abundant. These companies need sales, need healthy staff, and need our support to stay afloat. We cannot IMAGINE a world without these products (among so many others) in it but the fact of the matter is that when life resumes normalcy, many of our favourite places to shop & eat, and our favourite products to buy may not exist when that time comes.
We urge you as always to vote with your fork and with your dollars. Our community of small businesses, growers, makers, bakers and shakers needs us right now. Mindfulness is contagious.
We all need to eat, and though many of you have gone out of your way to stock your pantries, the need for food, particularly fresh food will be ongoing. Many cannot afford to stockpile, others prefer not to, a lot will just want a reason to leave the house.
Please be aware that our staff have been trained to be mindful of social distancing when going about their daily tasks. You are less likely to be approached while shopping; please know that we want to chat with you and lend a hand, but as a result of our efforts we may appear less friendly than usual, we assure we are not!
We are currently open 8am-7pm, 7 days a week. Our busiest hours of operation are from 11am-5pm, with our highest customer counts from 2-5pm. Avoid these shopping times if you can.
We are strongly suggesting that the first hour of the day 8-9am is the ideal time for the elderly or vulnerable to do their shopping (if they don’t have someone to do it for them). Our customer volume is low, our staff levels are high and our store will have been freshly sanitized. We will not turn you away but If you are a low risk individual we suggest that you honour this window of time if you are able, out of respect for those in our community that are comforted by this accommodation.
Shop alone, not as a couple or a family if you are able. The fewer bodies in our store at any given time, the lower everyone’s rate of exposure.
Make your shops larger and less frequent. If you have always been a 3x/week shopper, consider becoming a once a week shopper. Just plan ahead.
Shop for your friends, family & neighbours, (particularly the vulnerable) take turns running errands for each other, again, the less bodies in circulation in the community the greater impact we are having on flattening the curve.
Use a shopping buggy instead of a basket, ‘social distancing’ isn’t human nature. The nature of a shopping cart’s size will ensure distance between you and other shoppers & staff.
Clean your hands before and after leaving the store, be mindful that coming in with clean hands reduces risk for all staff and customers sharing the space. We have a well equipped customer bathroom available, and a limited supply of sanitizing stations.
Amongst the constantly changing social climate, we want to take a moment to remind you that we are still running our Island Food Caring Campaign. While this may feel like a nuisance, we urge you to consider the vulnerable, the hidden hungry in our community during this unsettling time. Imagine, if on top of the instability we are all experiencing, you also didn’t know where your next meal was coming from. Everyone’s food sustainability commitments are being tested right now, we stand firmly planted behind ours, and pledge to DOUBLE ALL CUSTOMER DONATIONS to Island Food Caring made between now and March 22nd at our tills. Those in need, need us more than ever. I am a huge fan of the beautiful words below … we need to BE THE HELPERS right now.
Sourdough Focaccia bread - anytime is a good time · Saturday February 29, 2020 by colin newell
Bread making. I grew up with it and it is an activity that has been in my DNA forever. Not only that, bread was something that sustained me through some lean times. My mom made 4 to 6 loaves a week of yeast based breads and occasionally would dabble in sourdough.
In this recipe, I extol the virtues and joy of making focaccia because it’s easy, it’s a great utility bread for a lot of meals and it’s virtually impossible to screw up.
Required Babish viewing tutorial below!
I like introducing people to bread making for a variety of reasons. One of which, it’s not rocket science. With a natural yeast starter, bread is no more than flour, water and salt. That’s it. It has been done this way for thousands of years.
As noted above, I think focaccia is a perfect sourdough-bread-baking starting point. It will teach you the fundamentals of working with sourdough without the potentially troublesome steps of shaping, scoring, and baking with Dutch ovens, bread pans and other vessels.
I have completed this recipe around 20 times now so I can attest to the fact that it could be a reliable launch point for your sourdough experience. Or in other words, a way to accumulate bread skills!
The recipe below also can be baked in a loaf pan or a cookie sheet, another great option if you do not want to deal with the skillset and artistry that you will, no doubt, acquire over time when baking-prepping more complicated breads.
Picture below – what your dough looks like after proofing overnight!
Let’s go! I assume that you have an activated, fed and feisty sourdough starter.
Disclaimer The creation and care of the sourdough starter is beyond the scope of this recipe.
Not sure about your starter? Off to the internets you go!
Sourdough tip – Your sourdough starter is good to go/ready to use if you take a tablespoon of it and drop it in a few inches of water and it floats!
Instructions
1.) Grab a bowl that will hold at least 1/2 kg of dough – that is 500G – so something medium sized.
2.) Add 100g of your ready sourdough starter to the bowl.
3.) Add 8-10g of kosher salt – great salt can effect the flavour so don’t cheap out on this critical ingredient.
4.) Add 360g of warm water (not hot water!) 35 to 45 degrees © or 110 degrees (F) is probably OK but definitely not hotter than that.
5.) Mix the water, salt and starter well.
6.) Gradually add 512g of bread flour. You can use a mixer. I do this by hand or with a bread mixing hook.
Work/knead the dough to form a sticky ball.
Stretch and fold – To develop the gluten in the dough, it is important to stretch and fold the dough twice an hour for the first 2 hours and then once more before putting in the fridge to develop/ferment overnight. There are many awesome YouTube tutorials on the “Stretch and Fold” so find one you like and develop your technique.
7.) You can let this all rise overnight (6 to 12 hours) or slow it down by putting it in the fridge. Fermentation keeps moving along even when your dough is tucked away in a cool area – it changes the flavour some. For keeping the focaccia dough “feisty” I tend to keep it out in the kitchen and work around its schedule.
Rule: Higher room temperature, faster “development” and fermentation of the dough.
8.) Assuming you are doing this overnight, in the morning pull out the dough and give it a few pulls and folds – consult the YouTube video below for some technique-tips (way easier than me trying to explain it!)
Picture above After raising overnight – should look like the above picture.
9.) Get the slightly deflated dough into a bowl with some olive oil (on top and on the bottom…) – it inhibits sticking.
10.) Let rise for 4 – 6 hours. Get out a cookie sheet or deep dish pizza pan (the square of rectangular type…)
11.) Olive Oil the pan “generously” – you need a good continuous coating on the bottom of the pan.
12. ) Transfer the dough into the pan. Cover and “2nd rise” for 4 to 6 hours.
Picture Below – What your 2nd-Raised dough should look like before tossing into the oven. There is some “technique” here but basically, you want to use your fingertip to “Pilsbury Doughboy” (poke) the proofed dough in 12 to 16 spots (the divets) that end up as a place for olive oil drizzle to settle – as well as giving it that signature Italian bread look.
Tip You know the dough has been proofed enough when you press it with your finger and it kind of bounces back by about 75%.
13.) Prior to putting the proofed bread into the oven, garnish with fresh rosemary and a good drizzle of olive oil and artisanal salt – even coarse kosher salt is fine.
14.) Bake for 24 minutes at 450 degrees (F) or until delightfully brown on top. Turn onto drying rack for, at least, 30 minutes or more before cutting — I know, it is tempting to try cutting it when it is right out of the oven. Don’t do it!
Reveal!
- This bread is perfect with any meal – it does not need butter as it is infused with olive oil. It reheats well in the microwave prior to serving. It can also be served with a balsamic vinegar dip or any imaginable spread you can concoct.
Remember: It is perfect all by itself.
It is crunchy, chewy, nutritious and tasty… and guess what, it’s going to get eaten fast.
One thing to remember
All breads need time to cool – I cannot repeat this enough! So…
Let it cool before cutting!
Listen to me talk about this subject for 4 minutes if that helps!
Talking Sourdough
SourDoughBreadmaking-Audio-MP3.mp3
Colin Newell is a Victoria resident and long time coffee expert – writing on the subject of coffee for over 20 years! His dissertation on this subject can be found over on www.coffeecrew.com – Have any questions on bread-making, coffee, life, the Universe, and everything? Send me an e-mail for goodness sakes!
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Commercial Drive Vancouver - Life in the coffee time-tunnel · Saturday February 1, 2020 by colin newell
My take on Here comes the Sun…” Colin and Sean McCool on Guitar and Vocals
Here-Comes-The-Sun-V14.mp3Way back in 2008, I popped into Cafe Roma on Commercial Drive in Vancouver – a cafe that has a lot of history for this part of Vancouver and for me, some fond childhood memories!
One sunny mid-week Spring day, Dave, a contributor to the CoffeeCrew.com website, and I sampled the espressos and cappuccinos and tasted some delightful locally baked treats.
It reminded me of a unusually hot June of 1968, some 40 years earlier, as I walked down East 6th Avenue, Vancouver, towards Commercial Drive.
This was the first trip off of Vancouver Island and what started as a day trip turned into an overnight adventure as mom decided to hook up with some cousins in the big city.
Mom, who grew up in a multicultural enclave in Montreal, Quebec, had brought me over to Vancouver for the weekend to visit the Pacific National Exhibition and to see a big city for the first time. And what a cultural shock it was for a 11 year old to see something so different than sleepy small town Victoria.
Mom’s cousins lived on East 6th Avenue around 3 blocks from Commercial Drive – a big old character house the likes of which I had never seen before. The original block of houses remain in Vancouver to this day and walking the tree lined sidewalks in 2018 is like a memory drenched trip through a time tunnel.
On a Saturday morning in June 1968 I started the day with my young cousin Dennis by heading out for an exploration.
Only in the late 60’s would it seem perfectly normal for a couple of 11 year olds to head out into the urban jungle for a look see.
Turning onto Commercial Drive on this sunny Saturday late morning, Dennis and I walked down wide sidewalks past Italian delis, corner grocers and bustling cafes.
The street was full of life. Everything seemed brighter, louder, busier and decidedly more fragrant. For a naive kid from small town Victoria, I might as well have been on another planet.
The aroma of strong coffee, cured ham and fresh fruit drifted over the concrete beneath my feet. I stopped for a moment in front of a busy cafe. It seemed to be packed with men, young and old, entangled in a circle of loud conversation and broad hand gestures. They spoke Italian, a language my Montreal raised mother used with me when she was displeased.
A young couple caught my eye. They seemed disconnected from this humming umbilical of community.
A girl, likely in her twenties, wore a canary yellow sun-dress and her male friend, donned a wool suit. The suit seems softened by a few years worth of wear and somewhat sticky considering that it was a hotter than usual summer. Between his sips of strong looking coffee from an impossibly small cup and her demurely drawing from something that looked like a milkshake, they talked in a musical banter – words only they appeared to understand.
Dennis grabbed my shoulder and pulled me along. I looked back at the couple nodding and laughing. The girls hair moved up and down held in place by a daisy-yellow hair broach. Walking again, Dennis steered me into a green grocers hardly a door away from the cafe. With 90 cents in my pocket, a lot of money in 1968, I bought a chocolate bar, some pixie-sticks (fizzy candy in a paper tube) and a cola.
We exited the store and turned left towards the cafe again.
Caffe Roma is now buzzing louder as we strode towards my cousin’s avenue. The table where the young couple sat was now empty save for a cup and a glass. I spot them exiting onto the boulevard, hand in hand, her dress burning a permanent image into my mind, the itchy smell of his suit offering contrast. They vanished into a pulsating hive of urban humanity – a Saturday morning blend of shoppers, smokers, the odd smattering of fashionably clad hipsters and one wide-eyed child – me.
I look in the cafe window again flashing forward to the present. I stand outside of Caffe Roma on Commercial Drive and time has stood still just for me. The reflection in the window looks alternately young and slightly older.
Clouds pass by offering a broad selection of flattering light. CoffeeCrew contributing member Dave watches me for a moment before holding the door.
“Colin, let’s get some coffee…” he says.
The smells and sounds of the the Cafe and the street envelope me like an old gloved hand. For a moment I hold in my palm the paper tubes of fizzy candy and a half-eaten chocolate bar. Dave asks again, “What are you going to have, Colin?”
I order my usual when I am in a cafe for the first time – double espresso and a snack. In this case, they have very tasty looking apple turnovers. I get one.
The intensity of the Italian coffee and the tangy sweetness of the pastry are the perfect match. As I sip the beverage and feel the caffeine perking within me, I can almost hear the whispered conversations of the young lovers from so long ago at a nearby table. Where are they now? Have the years been kind? Most likely, their grandchildren are half-grown up, much as I was in 1968. I think about my marriage, now almost 2 decades in length, and how in places like these, time just stands still.
In the final moments before we leave for our next stop on the drive, the owner pops by to gather up our spent cups. I tell him the coffee is fabulous. His expression is priceless and without words – a combination of ‘of course it is son…’ and ‘I have a cafe to run today…’
As we step onto the still vibrant sidewalk of Commercial Drive, two ten year old boys approach on skate boards. One sails past me like a low flying seagull.
The other swishes to a stop and is immediately hypnotized by the activity in the cafe, the noise, the smells, the starling chatter of the old men.
The cycle continues season by season, year by year through the generations. We are thankful for our memories and the time we have ahead of us. Thanks for the memories Vancouver!
A few months later in 1968, Jimi Hendrix would play a stellar concert at the Pacific Coliseum and a couple of weeks before I arrived in Vancouver Robert Kennedy would be assassinated in Los Angeles during his presidential bid. Here in 2018, Caffe Roma is now part of the history books – but while in Vancouver, you can visit The Drive – Do so. You will be glad you did.
A Musical tribute…
My take on Here comes the Sun…” Colin and Sean McCool on Guitar and Vocals
Here-Comes-The-Sun-V14.mp3Sourdough Bread 101 - Chapter 1 - Cheese Bread · Saturday January 25, 2020 by colin newell
Welcome to 2020 – a New Year and hopefully lots of adventures on the blog – by the time you read this, you may have heard some of my fellow bread makers on the CBC talking about the resurgence of bread making at home. If you are just checking in now – as in today – well, that feature is still in development.
Sourdough – My starter goes back to around 2008 – as handed to me in a ziploc bag by friend and colleague “Corey” – despite my best attempts and neglect, I have yet to kill my sourdough starter.
We’ll call this chapter 1 on the subject despite the fact that I need to offer a complete tutorial on sourdough breads and starters — that is, if you are not inclined on looking up a myriad of resources about the subject online and on YouTube.com. But, for my own edification, I should really write it all down in my own words if only to get a better understanding of the subject. It’s not rocket science but things can go awry if you don’t observe a few cautions about the subject. Anyway – let’s get to it with this little recipe.
Ingredients
50 g OR ¼ cup Sourdough starter
365 g OR 1 ½ cup + 1 tsp warm water
280 g OR 2⅓ cups bread flour
200 g OR 1¾ cups all purpose flour
20 g whole wheat flour
Option: Use 500g bread flour and skip the variety of flour types.
9 g OR 1 ½ tsp fine sea salt
Optional – 50 g OR ⅓ cup sliced pickled Jalapenos
135 g OR 1 heaped cup Sharp cheddar cheese cubed into ¼ inch
Optional – 12 g OR ¼ cup minced chives
Instructions
In a large bowl add starter and water and mix well.
Saturday evening – Add all purpose, whole wheat flour and bread flour combine everything and set aside for 30 minutes -
Me – I actually just used all bread flour – but mixing up the different grain types is ok.
Add salt and mix again and set aside for another 8-12 hours in a room with an air temperature of 17-23 Degrees ©
Sunday morning – mix in cheese, jalapenos and chives then shape and transfer to banneton or steel bowl.
Proof at room temperature or in fridge for 4 – 8 hours.
Pre-heat oven to 450F. Transfer the dough to a suitable oiled steel or glass (pyrex) bread pan.
Bake for 10 minutes at 450F and then reduce the temperature to 425 F and bake 25 minutes.
Bake until loaf develops a golden colour + when you tap the loaf it makes a hollow sound or registers 95C-210 F internal temperature.
Cool the loaf for 10-15 minutes – cut it into slices and enjoy.
Colin Newell has been a Victoria resident and coffee expert for 25+ years and dabbles in food and cocktail culture.
