Category Archive

A couple of weeks ago I put out a call to Ottawa parents asking them about lunch time at their children`s school. There has been lots of discussion lately surrounding school lunches in areas where the food is provided, but there is more to lunch than just the actual food. It is about the act of sitting down with friends and enjoying a meal. Socializing over food and seeing it for the experience it is, rather than something you hurry through to get to the good stuff.

What I found was that most kids have about 20 minutes to eat. All kids have basic rules about not running around or being too loud. There are some schools, that in my personal opinion, are taking steps to make lunch a special time of the day. Allowing kids to move their seats so that they are eating with friends (that they are often not sitting with during class time to minimize the socialization), to talk as long as it stays at a normal level, and some going so far as to hold lunch after recess so that kids do not rush through their meal so that they can play along with several other potential benefits.

For every school that was taking steps towards a positive lunch experience there were those that were taking a step back. Some kids reported that they were not only not allowed to talk during lunch, but they actually were to sit at their desk and watch videos and television while eating instead of using the time to socialize and break bread with their peers.

For my house hold, the kid`s class is in the less positive stream. I plan to speak with her teacher. I realize there are some circumstances where the level of discipline and order during lunch may seem to be necessary, but I also feel like my child is missing out on a wonderful opportunity to bond with her friends and learn proper eating habits such as taking time out of your day to enjoy food as an event, not just a way to get sustenance.

Thank you so much to all the parents who helped me by going over my questionnaire with their kids. I hope you found it as eye opening as I did, and I encourage other parents to talk to their kids about their lunch time routines.

Cuss you Chocolate Milk.

I used to like you. You tasted good and you were an occasional treat I could feel good about. Sure you had as much sugar as a soda, but you had the added benefits of milk. But as I said as an occasional treat you rocked.

Look at you all tasty and stuff.

Now they are trying to sell chocolate milk as a health food. At first I laughed. But as I have seen more and more of this ad campaign it’s beginning to enrage me. Sure chocolate milk has some great things. In fact it has all of the great things that regular milk has with more sugar. And yes, those great things like the glucose that helps protein enter your cells and the carbs but that does not make it a health food.

Our society has become obsessed with parts of food. And this isn’t a rant about only eating chicken breasts and pork tenderloin. But breaking down food into its nutrients and vitamins instead of looking at food as a whole. We can’t see the forest for the trees as it were. Instead of thinking about food as a powerful experience that can bring people together to nourish body and soul, we think of it as a way of getting more protein and carbs into our systems.

Just because something has a nutrient in it, the item is not necessarily good for you.

Yes Lucky Charms might have 2g of fibre, but that does not make them the best choice for a healthy breakfast.

I’ve recently read a wonderful book that touches on the topic of dissecting our food along with the erosion of our food culture called ‘ Outside the Box: Why Our Children Need Real Food Not Food Products’ by the lovely Jeannie Marshall. It’s a really interesting read for those who have kids or don’t about a Canadian girl who moves to Italy and struggles with the world’s changing views on food as she tries to feed her young son.

The best piece of advice I’ve picked up from the book about teaching kids… and let’s face it, many adults, about how to eat healthy is to make sure you are eating a wide variety of colours. If you are eating real food (ie it didn’t come from a box) and there are several colours on your plate per meal, you will be eating a balanced diet and you can stop worrying about your vitamin C intake and start enjoying your food again.

I’ve got a copy of Jeannie’s book to give away to one lucky Ottawa reader! All you need to do is leave a comment on this post telling me your biggest food pet peeve. It can be anything – hell you can even make it up. I’ll pick a winner at random in a couple days time.

Until then happy eating and up yours chocolate milk marketers.

Alright folks, it’s now less than a week away!! Celebrity Chefs of Canada is almost here and I’m getting ready. That’s right, an event this cool you can’t just show up. Well I guess you could, but where is the fun in that? To help you prep, here are the top 5 things I’m doing to get ready for this kick ass event.

1. Putting on my game face.

With so many amazing chefs talking nothing but stellar food all day, you run a real danger of pulling a jaw muscle if your mouth isn’t used to saying ‘wow’ about 1079 times in a day. So for the past week I’ve been stretching my jaw muscles in a rigid 15 minute calisthenic regiment. I just hope it’s enough.

Hold each pose for 1 minute and repeat 3 times ending with a big silly grin.

2. Practicing with my big girl heels.

While you can dress any which way you please for this event, it is at the fabulous NAC and I always feel that calls for a little bit of class. To celebrate this year I’m planning to wear a pair of heels. For at least 20 minutes with my back up flats in my bag. To ensure I last the entire 20 minutes with minimal face plants, I’ve been wearing the shoes around the house. We’ll see how long I last.

3. Studying up on the culinary famous.

The only thing better than meeting Susar Lee in person is knowing who he is and why exactly he rocks before hand. A great way to do it is to check out all the local bloggers who have been interviewing and talking to the chefs from the event. You can find them all here with links to their articles!

4. Drinking my weight in wine.

Did you know that each of these fantabulous chef teams is paired with a winery?? True story. So that means that not only are you going to be sampling some pretty spectacular food, but you’ll have an on point wine along for the ride. Personally I’m getting my palate ready by drinking a bottle of wine with every meal. Building my tolerance so to speak. On a side note, Pinot Noir and cheerios… not a winning combination. Skip the cereal.

5. Not losing my ticket

I hear this event is nearly sold out. With remaining tickets available here. Which just means that I can’t really afford to misplace my ticket. So I’ve put it somewhere smart, somewhere that when I do forget where I’ve put them, then frantically search through the house and eventually ‘find’ them I will think… “oh yeah… that makes sense. Good thinking me.”

So there you have it. My 5 step plan for getting ready for what is sure to be the most badass event of 2012. Hope to see you all there!

Tonight at 10pm is a moment I’ve been waiting for a few weeks now. The return of Top Chef Canada. Truthfully I wasn’t all that excited, as I wasn’t the biggest fan of the first season, that was until I found out Ottawa had a couple of horses in this season’s race. In particular, Chef Jonathan Korecki, one of the chef’s I profiled for the Celebrity Chefs of Canada event that is rapidly coming up on March 25.

I have a gut feeling that Chef Korecki is going to go all the way. He’s a ninja. A tiger. A culinary flying monkey. Here is just some little known facts about Chef Korecki.

When Alexander Bell invented the telephone he had 3 missed calls from Chef Korecki.
Jonathan Korecki won American Idol last season using only sign language.
There is a grizzly bear rug at Sidedoor Kitchen. The bear isn’t dead, just afraid to move.
Chef Korecki  won the World Series of Poker using Pokemon cards.

He’s also the only chef ever to unscramble an egg.

Good luck to Chef Korecki and to Chef Curtis Luk from Courtyard Restaurant – here is hoping it’s a Ottawa show down for the finale!!

For anyone interested, there are still some tickets left to the March 25 Celeb Chef event – come on out and meet some amazing chefs and, more importantly, try their food! Click here for details.