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 - Starbucks in decline chapter three · Tuesday July 29, 2008 by colin newell
In the race to win a large slice of the Australian coffee market, Starbucks acknowledged experiencing the business equivalent of a blown head gasket. 61 “under-performing” stores to be shuttered out of its total Aussie portfolio of 84.
Starbucks ambitions to be Aussie’s caffeinated Billabong of choice and its subsequent yewey have left investors and speculators saying hooroo to share value.
Buggah. Explanation of some of the words above? Aussie Slang
With 15,000 coffee shops globally and 600 stores in the US heading to the long paddock one has to ask: Where does it all end? 12,000 employees in the U.S. could be flipping pages in the help wanted section – so what’s next?
In my opinion, I see this more as a stage of healthy weight loss – kind of like Marlon Brando shedding a few pounds… at least… while he was alive.
Ok. Maybe not a really good example.
Starbucks can afford to shrink a little when you think about it for a moment. What other business can you name, that when you look down your main street in your town… you see a Starbucks… and when you move your head ever so slightly to the left or right… you see another Starbucks. I dare say you would not find that with a McDonalds… or a Subway… or… whatever. You get the point.
Heck. Starbucks is more ubiquitous than Vitreous Floaters – and more common than the Head Cold – There is so much Starbucks coffee consumed in Seattle, Washington alone that the caffeine levels in Puget Sound spike measurably at 10:20 AM and 3:20 PM every weekday.
So they can shrink a little. Sure their share price is falling faster than a gray squirrel base jumping from the penthouse level of my apartment building. This will be a golden opportunity at some point in the near future. After all, we are talking about coffee here – a infinitely renewable resource – with a captive audience… hopelessly addicted… I mean dependent on a healthful beverage rich in… antioxidants… yea.
One other thing – Starbucks would be well served to abort the gut-bomb breakfast items – The TurboChef, a malfunctioning Star-Trek replicator type device that reconstitutes breakfast sandwiches made several light years from here is not a great addition to a place that is supposed to smell like coffee. If I want a Sausage McMuffin (made fresh and on the spot…) you know where I am going to get it from!
And the squirrel. He is fine. Terminal velocity for a squirrel is about 3 miles an hour. He dusted himself off, threw back a quad espresso and got back to the serious task of getting his nuts together.
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Summer fun food and drink - Pemberton Music Festival afterglow · Monday July 28, 2008 by colin newell
How is (was) the day after Pemberton Music Festival like Beijing (a mere 2 weeks before the Olympics)?
Answer: Pollution. Garbage. Clutter. Rubbish. Discards.
There are a handful of things that really get my goat… and one of them are the people that get all Enviro on the World, all Hippied out in their split-window VW’s (one of the most polluting vehicles on the planet) along with virtually anything else made by Volkswagen… girls who eschew shaving their armpits and dudes who eschew personal hygiene for a weekend… who espouse Groovy, Peace and Love all over the place…
And then litter the f*cking crap out of our pristine countryside.
What is wrong with you people?
A news clip showed the absolutely astounding detritus, flotsam and jetsam; $300 dollar tents used once. Camp stoves, still warm. Coffee percolators, still warm. Clothing. Sleeping bags. Un-opened bags of food. Discarded without a thought.
Begs the question: What is wrong with you people?
I am no saint, but these huge music festivals are quite literally the last places I would want to be on Earth – and one of the reasons has been illustrated above.
Yea. If I want to hang out with pigs, I will go to the farm for an afternoon…
And pick up after myself.
So. You do the same please.
Peace out.
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