You know you’re a food addict when you will happily spend your birthday at a pig farm. This year when my friend The Second Wife asked me if I would like to come along to a Victor’s Food South West Markets Food Tour I happily accepted knowing that on my birthday I’d be knee deep in food. After all there isn’t a much more pleasurable way to spend a day is there?

I’m greeted by Victor Pisapia and his partner Jim at Danks Street where the bus is waiting for us. We are to leave at 9am sharp and the bus is packed full of people. Tawnya is the tour guide and she gives us a quick overview of what we are to be doing while keeping some of the places that we’ll visit a secret (arrgh, you know me, I like to know these things but I comply). Some of the places that we’ll be going to today aren’t open to the public so it’s doubly exciting whereas others are open to the public and we can revisit them again should the urge strike.

Victor the fig farmer

Our first stop is about 45 minutes away. She lets the word “fig” escape and suddenly I’m clapping excitedly like a well trained seal. Figs are my downfall – too many dollars go into buying these sweet, luscious babies and visiting a fig farm is exciting indeed. We drive past a stand selling figs and fig trees and then we are greeted by Victor the farmer, the fantastic headband wearing fig farmer and his wife Julie. Upon spotting the headband I am immediately recalling “The Royal Tenenbaums” and apparently he is never seen without his headband.  On the 10 acres of land  there are 2,500 fig trees and from the produce they made shortbreads, biscuits, caramelised fig balsamic dressing, fig jam, dessert figs as well a vincotto, a grape syrup. During fig season they have up to 10 people picking and these are usually students. Fig season lasts from the second week of January until the end of May this year and will conclude with the first frost of the season. As we’re at the tail end of the season, they are not quite as ripe as the ones picked during the heat of the Summer.

We help ourselves to tea and coffee and delicious biscuits that they make here. There are cookies that tastes like they’ve been deep fried and glazed. There are also two types of fig cookies, one with a shortbread and another one dusted with icing sugar which are divine and melt in the mouth.

“How about bats as pests?” someone asks and Victor becomes even more animated jumping up and down. These are among the biggest pests for him and he tells us that every night they destroy about 10-16 boxes worth of figs. To scare them he  beats a drum while riding a bike up and down the rows in an effort to scare them away.

Click here to read the full story

If you enjoyed this post, why not share it with your friends?

There’s nothing quite like a limo ride. And there’s only one thing better than a limo pick up and that’s a pick up in a stretch limousine. If you have guessed that our next destination after L.A.’s In N Out Burger was Canada then great work! And if you guessed Montreal then you are absolutely brilliant! The day after our In N Out Burger extravaganza we leave LA airport where we complete our L.A. experience by spotting a celebrity. A makeup less Denise Richards is on the same flight and she arrives with her P.A. and someone from airport security to wheel her bags.

We arrive in Montreal a few hours later and the weather is a balmy 31C. People are bilingual here in Montreal and when you are greeted it is in French or English or both and if you can only speak English that isn’t a problem. TV channels are either in English or some are simply dubbed (and it’s trés strange hearing Brett Michaels speaking French on Rock of Love!).

Our limo driver takes us for a quick tour around Montreal and explains how there is an old Montreal and a New Montreal. Old Montreal is a gorgeous area and very reminiscent of Paris’s Ile St Louis although larger in area. The interesting way to see how each neighbourhood is divided is by  looking at their lamp posts as each neighbourhood’s lamp posts are different. And we’re about to cover sixteen of these neighbours today! We arrive at the Hotel Nelligan and our bags are whisked from the back of the limo and we check in. The hotel is named after the French Canadian poet Émile Nelligan and our room is modern with stone and brick, strategically exposed copper piping and luxurious touches with classical music playing as we enter. However there is a lack of tea and coffee making facilities and a pot of tea was $14-ouch! There is an oxygen menu where you can buy personal oxygen for $16.95 per use making the lack of tea and coffee slightly more bizarre. There is a full bottle of Grey Goose vodka in the mini bar as well as, unusually, an Australian wine.

We start off in Old Montreal with our guide Ruby. She shows us the Notre Dame basilica which took 46 years to complete. It looks nice enough from the outside but inside is stunning. And you can tell when you realise that it took forty years to complete the inside but only six to complete the outside.  Inside it is full of gold carvings covered in gold leaf and houses the largest pipe organ in Canada.

Most Montreal people get around by the BMW system (Bike, Metro or Walk). They bike either by their own bikes or the bixi system (bike and taxi, get it? ). Even the Mayor takes dignitaries on a tour of Montreal by bike. Mr NQN tested the Bixi system a couple of times and was slugged with a $100 bill on the credit card (which was obviously some sort of error).

Fairmount Bagels

One thing that I had heard a lot about was the bagels. Montreal has a sizeable Hasidic Jewish and Polish population and over time they have created some uniquely Montreal style bagels. The bagels here are different to New York style bagels in they’re lighter and more aerated. The secret to them is the soft water which makes them hard to duplicate elsewhere. They also use egg and honey in the dough and hand roll the bagel in sesame seeds. There are other varieties like chocolate chip, sun dried tomato and muesli but the sesame bagel is the most popular and is baked around the clock 24 hours a day. Ruby asks for a hot one from the oven. There are no preservatives so they will not last until the next day and freshest is best.

Sesame seed bagel from Fairmount Bagel Bakery

Mmm airiness!

I take a bite into my hot bagel and it’s soft and doughy and very good. Almost like a very soft bread roll that has just come out of the oven mixed with a bagel. I do like my bagels with a filling and I think this would be delicious with some butter or some smoked salmon and lox. Interestingly it reminds us of those puffy dough balls covered in sesame that you get in lieu of dessert at Chinese restaurants.

Schwartz’s

They queue even in hot weather

Our next stop is an exciting one. Smoked meat! I know what you may be thinking, it’s pastrami or prosciutto. No, this smoked meat is entirely different. The best is said to be at Schwartz’s and typically there is a queue outside the door but the heat and humidity is keeping many away.  They smoked meat is brisket and it is smoked upstairs and then kept in steamers to help keep in the moistness and heat. It is then hand carved to order. It comes in lean, medium or fatty . Interestingly, when the founder Reuben Schwartz started Schwartz’s 82 years ago he was frugal and didn’t want to use preservatives as they would cost more and eat into his profits so no preservatives were ever used which remains the practice today

Inside Schwartz’s

Sample of medium smoked meat on bread

We try a small slice of bread with the medium smoked meat and it is so unbelievably good I go into food orgasm mode.  The meat is so tender and soft and full of gorgeous flavouring with pepper and spices. You can even buy the Schwartz’s herbs at stores. The store is also the subject of a book and a soon to be released musical.  Despite the many offers to franchise the store, the owners have never agreed to it.

Frite Alors! for Poutine

Click here to read the full story

If you enjoyed this post, why not share it with your friends?