When one of BC’s most respected shellfish farming collectives exists only a fifteen minute ferry ride away, it’s no surprise that here in CR we get a lot of opportunities to eat pristine, local seafood. Sometimes it’s at a well-connected cafe-bistro or a shellfish festival or maybe you just know a guy who knows a guy… And that guy is Dave Ritchie. Read More
A month ago – Back when blueberries were blooming on alpine meadows throughout the Strathcona Park range – My wife and I were pulling into a hotel on another mountaintop. Whistler was the final stop on our invigorating mountain bike tour of the Caribou Highways and Byways and despite my physical exhaustion I was spiritually elated!
Whistler is home to, among other things, the restaurant that I most wanted to cross off my local bucket list. I’d met the chef of Araxi at the BCSGA Shellfish Dinner months back and had decided that if we ever made an appearance on the mainland that was to be my Mecca. Read More
“A loaf of bread,” the Walrus said,
“Is what we chiefly need:
Pepper and vinegar besides
Are very good indeed–
Now if you’re ready, Oysters dear,
We can begin to feed.”
– Lewis Carroll (from Through the Looking-Glass, 1872)
It’s Valentine’s weekend, the Horseshoe Bay ferry terminal is choked full of exhausted island travelers grimly thumbing through their neglected emails. The tension in the airless, reeking waiting room is so thick with worry that you could slice some off and sauté it. Two ferries have been canceled thanks to the hurricane currently pounding on the windows, and the lady with the tinkly voice on the intercom says it’s possible no-one will be returning to the island tonight… And yet, my wife and I are in pretty good spirits. Read More
Food has always been intrinsically tied to memory in my mind. I, for whatever reason, tend to recall good eats very clearly and use those moments almost like landmarks in the warped geography of my memories. People who share in my passion for food, who sit at the same table during a great meal, or go on food-related adventures with me get etched in my memories pretty deeply. This goes for people I cook with every day as well as with people I spent sporadic bits of time with… Like my Uncle Wayne. Read More