4th Blogiversary Giveaway – Fiasco Gelato

It happened this past week, so fast that I can’t believe it. This little blog of mine ticked over at four years, so happy blogiversay to me! My life has changed a lot in those four years, so has this blog, and myself for that matter.

To celebrate four years I thought it might be fun to take a look back at my first ever post, you can click here if you are interested. Back then I was all about food trucks.

And if I thought I have changed a lot in four years, the food truck scene in Calgary has changed that much more. I was scrolling through my food truck app the other day and I think I counted almost 60.  Back at the beginning there were much less.

So what is going on with some of those original trucks? They have changed a lot too.

My favourite truck back then was Blamwich, I couldn’t get enough of those delicious sandwiches even though the best one had so much bacon on it it made me break out in hives once! Margie Hope and Steve Glavicich were behind the wheel back then but since the Blamwich bus has retired you can find them spreading love in other ways around YYC.

Margie teamed up with fellow food truck owner Jody Barned (I’ll get to Jody’s truck in a minute) in 2014.  They started up The Farmer’s House in the old Kaffa Coffeehouse located in the Marda Loop area.

Steve branched off from Blamwich in 2012 and started his small but mighty Braizen Food Truck. He is known for making quality salads and sandwiches and even cookies. In the winter months he works at schools making sure kids are getting good meals but when the weather warms up he takes his truck back out on the streets. Steve has also appeared on Chopped Canada not once but twice as well as Eat Street.

So back to The Farmer’s House. When I used to go to the food trucks chances are Blamwich and Jo Jo’s BBQ were side by side. Jody Barned from Jo Jo’s always had some excellent smoked meaty goodness going on, a tangy coleslaw and my favourite, corn fritters. Often I would grab a sandwich from Blamwich and then scoot on over to Jo Jo’s for corn fritters. So when Margie and Jody decided to hang up their truck keys for house keys I’m sure it was a natural fit. And today you can go to The Farmer’s House and Margie will be there offering good food and great wine in a warm space.

I don’t know where we would have been in those early days without Chef Mario Spina’s Pimento’s Pizza truck. Four years ago I had a very picky eater in my house and if it wasn’t for the pizza truck I wouldn’t have been able to go to a Food Truck Frenzy. Chef Mario has changed focus these days, moving from pizza to burgers. His brick and mortar business is now called Burger 320 and you can find it in Bridgeland.  The Burger 320 Truck is driving the streets in the summer months and I have to mention that Chef Mario also appeared on an episode of Chopped Canada.

The best food truck of all though was and is the Fiasco Gelato truck. That was the one my son always begged for so we always tried to find it. My dear friends at Fiasco are still on the streets with the original Elie but they have added to the fleet with Bambino, that specializes in ice cream sandwiches. And even though they recently suffered a set-back with a fire at their newly opened location at 110, 221 19th St SE they are almost ready to open their doors again, hopefully by the end of April.

Does all of this look fun?  It is fun.  Going to a Food Truck Frenzy in Calgary is definitely an experience.  These days you pay admission to get in but you have a ton of food trucks to choose from and some great entertainment too.  The first frenzy of the season is coming up on April 23 and 24 and if you click here you can find out more details.

As always, for those of you who stick it out to the end there is my giveaway.  To celebrate my four year blogiversary my friends at Fiasco Gelato would like to give one of you, my lucky readers, a one month subscription to their Gelato Club. The only rules are you have to live in Calgary and the winner will have to answer a skill testing (not hard) question.  To enter my giveaway please click on the Rafflecopter link below for details.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

A sample of what you might get with the one month Gelato Club subscription. These were this past year’s Holiday Collection, the flavours change all the time!

Good luck everyone.  And if you can’t make it to the Food Truck Frenzy be sure to check out the YYC Food Truck app throughout summer to find a truck to eat at.  You can find it here and I always have the link on the front of my page, just in case.

Comfort Food

This past week my Mom celebrated her birthday. I was thinking about this post, one of my very first, and wanted to reblog it in honour of her. A little bit of Mom’s love goes a long way.

Heather's EATS

I had surgery yesterday and do you know what I was dreaming about and what I was talking about when I came to? Not my husband, not my son but food trucks. Crazy. Wouldn’t it be great to have Fiasco Gelato parked in my driveway sending soup and gelato up to me in bed? Ya, not gonna happen but a girl can dream.

It got me to thinking. Everybody has their own comfort foods, something that Mom made for you when you were home in bed sick. Some people have a special soup but mine is eggs. Even today when I make my eggs this way it feels like my Mom is right there, loving me.

It’s not very fancy but all you do is soft boil some eggs, I usually leave mine in there for about four minutes. Then when they are ready take them out of their shells…

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Red Lentil Challenge – Pumpkin Pie

I know May is just about over but did you know that May is lentil month? And I have a confession; I have never cooked with lentils. For regular readers to this blog that won’t be a surprise. Even though I am adventurous with my eating I am not really that adventurous with my cooking. But since writing this blog I have decided to take on new cooking adventures. So don’t ask me what I was thinking when I was walking through the grocery store last week and I saw this bag of lentils.

Yes, I bought this huge bag of lentils, I am crazy! I gave myself a challenge alright; I’m going to be cooking with red lentils for a very long time. So now I have all these lentils sitting in my cupboard, what do I do with them? My first step was to start looking through my cookbooks to find an easy recipe to work with.

This was a no brainer. I pulled out my Spilling the Beans cookbook by Julie Van Rosendaal and Sue Duncan. I have had great success with this book. I was pleasantly surprised to find there was a recipe for my favourite pie, pumpkin. That sealed the deal and when I looked through my cupboards I had most of the ingredients on hand. So of course, I made the pie.

The recipe is below but here are a few observations based on my experience. I don’t have a food processor so I used my blender to mix all the ingredients together. I don’t know if it was because of this but I ended up with a lot of pie filling left over. I might have been able to pull two pies out of this recipe instead of one. Also, I didn’t use the optional molasses but after tasting I decided to add a couple of sprinkles of pumpkin pie spice before I poured it into the pie shell.

And what was the response at my house? My husband enjoyed it, he said you could tell there was a little something added because of the texture but he liked the taste. He even went so far to say he would like it if I used this recipe for my Thanksgiving pies. My son, the picky eater, loved it. He gobbled it up and immediately asked for another piece. I was shocked. And me, well I was happy with the end result. I had my piece with a scoop of Coconut Sorbetto from Fiasco Gelato which paired very nicely together. I will definitely be making this again.

This is good because I have a feeling I will still have those bag of lentils in my cupboard by the time Thanksgiving rolls around. But stay tuned, I will post more of my red lentil recipe adventures. I’ll try something savory next.

Red Lentil Pumpkin Pie

Ingredients:

1/3 cup (80 mL) dry red lentils

14 oz (398 mL) can pureed pumpkin

3/4 cup (185 mL) half and half, evaporated 2% milk, or whipping cream

1/2 cup (125 mL) sugar

1/2 cup (125mL) packed brown sugar

3 large eggs

1 Tbsp (15mL) molasses (optional)

1 Tbsp (15mL) grated fresh ginger, or 1/2 tsp (2.5 mL) ground ginger

1 tsp (5mL) vanilla

1 tsp (5mL) ground cinnamon or more to taste

1/4 tsp (1mL) ground allspice

Pinch of Salt

1 Unbaked 9-inch pie shell

Instructions:

In a small sauce pan, cover the lentils with water and bring to a boil; cook for 20 minutes, or until very soft.  Drain.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Put the lentils into the bowl of a food processor with the remaining ingredients (except the crust, of course) and pulse until well blended and smooth.  Pour into the crust.

Bake for 50 to 60 minutes, until the filling is set but still just a little wobbly in the middle and the crust is golden.  If the crust is browning too quickly, cover the pie lightly with a sheet of tin foil as it bakes.  Cool completely in the pan on a wire rack.  Serve at room temperature with whipped cream sweetened with a little sugar or maple syrup and spiked with a few drops of vanilla.

Makes 1 pie.

April 28 – Treat of the Week – Holidays

This past week has been a great gift as I had some time off to recharge the batteries.  There were way too many treats this week to feature just one, so I have decided to share some photos of the highlights.

A delicious start on Monday, the Mushroom Benny with a refreshing Kale salad with Buttermilk Dressing, from Blondes Diner.

A trip on Tuesday and Wednesday to Banff and this was the view from my room at the Rimrock Resort.

A refreshing glass of prosecco was the perfect complement to the view from the Larkspur Lounge at the Rimrock.

And this Beef Dip on a pretzel bun with a side of sweet potato fries was tasty too!

On to Friday and the food truck frenzy down at the Riverwalk in the East Village.  I started out with the Catfish Po’ Boy sandwich from Sticky Ricky’s.  The sandwich was spicy and flavorful with a tangy slaw on top.  And the bread was soft and fresh too.

The next stop was the Naaco Truck and their Empa’Naaco filled with mushrooms and beans with a side of pineapple chutney.  Absolutely amazing!

And to finish, the newest treat from Fiasco Gelato. A brioche served with banana gelato and gooey chocolate sauce.  A wonderful way to finish.

It’s been a great time but I’m going to have to revisit some fruits and vegetables this week.  Maybe that will be next week’s treat, I’ll see you then.

 

Calgary is Awesome – Day 4

It’s stinking hot outside! So right now, what is awesome about our city? The ice cream of course!

In the old days my family made the short trip to My Favorite Ice Cream Shop for a scoop or two. It was the place to be and if you could play a decent tune on the piano (not Heart and Soul OR Chopsticks) your ice cream was free!

These days I seek more sophisticated fare that still puts that smile on my face. There are two cool, sweet treat places that fit the bill.

The first one is Fiasco Gelato. Once upon a time you could visit their shop on 4^th Street but these days you’ll find them mostly out there with their food truck, Elie. Or you can go visit them in their Cucina on Meridian Road SE; they usually sell pints there on Friday afternoons. They also sell batches to many restaurants that take the amazing flavours and incorporate them into tasty desserts.

What I like most is that they are small, handcrafted, fresh batches of heaven made with love. And, as always, don’t ask me to choose a favorite flavour, each one makes me happy. I think most people choose the Salted Caramel but you can’t count out the Maple Bacon, or how about the Peanut Butter and Jam, or what about the S’mores, or Raspberry Lime, or the Watermelon? You kind of get the idea. And what I like the most is I can go and have a visit with the crew on a Friday afternoon and I feel like part of the family. One afternoon I even got to try their “afterschool special”, mojito. I know they have even made gelato with Village Beer, now that is awesome! Find them here http://www.fiascogelato.ca/ or track them on twitter @fiascogelato

Can’t find Fiasco Gelato, why don’t you try out the newly opened Village Ice Cream at 431 10^th Street SE. Go right to the end of 10^th Street and there you are. Billy and crew are there serving up chilled and creamy tasty treats! You can eat your ice cream there on the newly built deck or take home pints to enjoy in the comfort of your own home, because really do you want to be in public when you can’t stop eating this yummy goodness? They also have the very popular Salted Caramel and many others but don’t forget to try their local, seasonal items as well. Who could resist the Oaxacan Chile Chocolate with a kick, or the almost fresh out of the oven Lemon Poppyseed, or the refreshing Hibiscus Juniper? You know you need to go cool down, so get down there and try this place out. Track them on twitter @villageicecream

Yes it is hot out there but these are just two local places that are helping to cool Calgary down while making it awesome!

And do you want to find out what else makes Calgary awesome. Well check out the rest of my posts and how about the original that inspired it all by Julie Van Rosendaal. Her post is here.

http://calgaryisawesome.com/2012/07/03/in-your-words-yyc-a-calgary-top-10/

Comfort Food

I had surgery yesterday and do you know what I was dreaming about and what I was talking about when I came to? Not my husband, not my son but food trucks. Crazy. Wouldn’t it be great to have Fiasco Gelato parked in my driveway sending soup and gelato up to me in bed? Ya, not gonna happen but a girl can dream.

It got me to thinking. Everybody has their own comfort foods, something that Mom made for you when you were home in bed sick. Some people have a special soup but mine is eggs. Even today when I make my eggs this way it feels like my Mom is right there, loving me.

It’s not very fancy but all you do is soft boil some eggs, I usually leave mine in there for about four minutes. Then when they are ready take them out of their shells, put them in a bowl and mush them up with a little salt. When I have this with toast it tastes just like Mom’s love.

I must be feeling better because that’s what I made this morning, a little bit of Mom’s love. Now back to bed.

YYC Food Trucks – The Beginning

So here it is my first blog post.  I think it is only fitting that I talk about my favorite food trend, the one that got me excited and engaged in Calgary’s food scene.  Last summer, food trucks hit the streets of Calgary in a big way and the whole concept had me intrigued.  A perogy, with duck in it, off a truck?  Well this I had to try.  So I finally joined Twitter as this is the easiest way to keep track of where the trucks will be.  Then I started talking about the good food I was eating, and wow, the trucks were talking back to me.  How great was that?

So now I have a little bit of a following as the food truck girl.  I have eaten at all of the original trucks that were included in the launch last summer.  I have decided though that it would be too difficult to go back and try and remember all the things I have eaten.  Instead, I will be talking about the trucks one by one as I revisit them.  And there are a lot of new trucks to hit the street this spring and I’m looking forward to reporting on them too.  I hope you like food trucks!

So enough set-up, let’s talk about the food.

A few weeks ago there was a food truck frenzy on the Riverwalk to celebrate the opening of the new East Village Centre.  I have been to this spot before and I think it is probably one of the best spots in the city.  Lots of trucks can park there and there are plenty of benches outside for eating.  Not to mention the river rolling right by.

I decided that Saturday it was time to take my four year old son for a date.  He is familiar with Fiasco Gelato’s truck Ellie and asked to stop there first.  How could I say no?  My son is a picky eater and he always insists on “white” ice cream.  That day it was the Cara Cara Orange gelato, and he devoured it.  Me, it was my choice too but I decided to mix it with the Chocolate.  Fiasco is so consistently good and that day was no exception.  I love mixing their fruity flavours with the chocolate.  It makes the taste fresh and decadent all at the same time.

After the gelato we moved on to Chef Mario’s Pizza truck.  My son’s favorite food is cheese pizza so it was the Margarita for us to share.  But what was that smell while we were waiting for the pizza to cook, why it was The Noodle Bus of course.  This truck specializes in Vietnamese cuisine and even though I knew I wouldn’t be able to eat a full bowl of noodles I had to get some of the yummy smelling (and tasting) spring rolls.  So that’s what we had to eat.  And we sat in the sunshine, soaking up the rays and filling our tummies with awesome food.  It was a pretty good day.

So, do you want to know more about the food trucks?  I’ll be doing more in depth reviews on all the trucks in the months ahead so stay tuned for the spring menus and how they taste.