Sunday, June 20, 2004

To Eat What No White Man has Eaten Before!

(NOTE: The title, and this article, is in no way racist, nor was it meant to be. It just hit me and struck me as funny, so if I offend anyone: sorry, sorry, sorry.... )

Been a while since I blogged hasn't it?? :)

Well the truth is I ususally try to blog at least once on weekends, but last weekend I was in Ottawa attending a cousin's wedding.

Now, before you ask me how it went, as everyone inevitably does...
The cousin was lumious, the dresses are lovely, the ceremony- at the National Art Gallery no less - was moving. The day was perfect, none of us bridemaids tripped in the aisle and we all had a really good time on our little mini-vacation to our nation's capital. Even the location of the hotel was perfect: right in the heart of Byward Market, which comes alive on weekends with produce and arts vendors, less then 5 mintes walk from everything a tourist should see. This weekend showed off the best that Ottawa had to offer, my cousin included.

I should mention now the great guy my cousin married is of English/Irish decent. The ceremony is "western", but the reception is distinctly chinese, right down to the braised sea cucumbers with baby bak choy and abalone to Shark-Fin soup.

For those uninitiated to a chinese banquet, it goes somthing like this: a cold cut platter of somthing sort, usually invloving various roasted meats and poltury, then a veggie dish, then the Shark Fin Soup (always served third- don't ask me why), then the various dishes of hot entrees, including noodles and rice. Usually there's meat of some sort, a chicken of some sort, steamed fish of some sort, vegetables of some sort. Then it's dessert, ususally a sweet soup, some chinese pasteries maybe, or fruit. This was a modest, 9 course meal. I've had much bigger, and I've had smaller.

Keep in mind, all this comes naturally to me. As Kim Wong Keltner so correctly pointed out in "The Dim Sum of All Things":

"The food at these banquets was always the same. Objectively speaking, the food was a delectable twelve-course meal that was expertly prepared; any gourmand would be impressed by the delicate flavors of the various dishes. However...to (me) and my cousins, who had all eaten countless feasts like these, the meal was simply as they expected. They had been spoilt for years by the routine of flawlessly cooked delicacies."

(Off topic for a moment: "Dim Sum" is a fun read, and is highly recommended- especially to "Banana Girls" like myself , although I think of myself as more of a "Twinky"...)

I can only imagine what it was like for my cousin's husband's family and friends, for whom (I would assume) this is their first full fledge Chinese banquet. The Jellyfish, the sea cucumber(which I personally will not touch with a five-foot pole), the shark fin soup, the heads of the chicken and the fish on the table. To them, I say bravo for eating with gusto.

All of us danced and drank into the wee hours of the night, and some of us had an after-party, to celebrate a job well well done, until even MORE wee hours of the morning.

So here's to the bride and groom - if you can survive a banquet such as this, with 150 guests, 9 courses of traditional chinese cooking, a line of uncles insisting on shots of chinese rice whiskey and a dancing waiter, you can survive anything.

Saturday, June 05, 2004

The Girl's Supper Club

Has anyone realized how theraputic eating with a group of like minded people can be? A shared meal is one of the most social things one can do in the society. Now add throw into this mix women of various background and experience,a glass of wine or two (really! only one or two!), a common obsession with somthing... ANYTHING viola! Instant Therapy group.

I'm lucky enough to be in one of these groups. See, I take a Food Writing Class at George Brown College (highly recommended!)and a bunch of us "foodie" girls like to ge together after class for dinner, a drink, and gossip, usually about food. And yes, it's possiable for a bunch of women to talk openly about the love of eating and the word "diet" not coming up once, other then in the context of " Can you BELIEVE that people would be crazy enough to go on a DIET?"

The regulars in the group usually include myself (duh!), a bonified food geek with zero professional chefing experience, Devonne, a young pastery chef, and Denise, who was once a cook but now teaches cooking at a home-cooking school. Occasionally, some of the other girls will join us: a message therpist, another lady who is studing to be a wine maker, a jockey.... Now, we're all women in very different time and stages of our lives, but we have that one thing in common, which is an obession with food and eating and dining.

We gather, we go to class, we chat about life, we eat. It's that simple. But as more then one of us has commented: we look forward to Monday all week simplly becasue we look forward to eating with each other. Its like the ladies from Sex and the City, but us, we skip the cocktails and head right for the entree.

That, dear reader, is the secret to my mental (in)stablilty.... ;)