Archive: Oct 2010

In a room full of 20 something boys from the sticks, I passed my CORE hunting program on Wednesday with 97%. Yeehaw! Mark one for city girl. I will say that it was a painfully easy exam for a pass that permits you to kill living creatures. My bloody sommelier exam required 100x more study. One piercing question has been rolling about my mind since getting my hunting license. Is hunting for food morally wrong? I realize the issue is more complex than this simple question. A lot of if, ands or buts come to mind, but it’s an important question for me to consider before diving into the forests. I posted the question to my Swallow Tail facebook group and I got some impassioned answers. The moral key for me is to cull only the populations of ‘meat’ that…

Just a quick update on the ultimate city slicker chef learning to hunt, yes, me. I was forced back to the firing range last week by my friend who is pitching the story to the CBC, she wanted to take some photos of us shooting. I really was not excited to go back as last time I left slightly shaky and pale. My neck was tweaking all week from the kick back on the shotgun and I was seriously doubting my ability to actually hunt ever. Here’s a link the story on my first hunting hurdle – first time to shoot a gun ever. But I sucked it up and went with my partner in crime, Helen Stortini (of Growing Chefs fame). She was far more comfortable with the kick and even looked like she had fun last time, damn…

Buying “Money’s Mushrooms” at Costco is akin to putting margarine on toast. It’s not going to kill you, but it is so boring. Head out into BC’s backyard to find the real treasures. A handful of them you may know and see on occation in the high end grocery stores in Fall; yellow chanterelle, matsutake (pine), lobster, king bolete (porcini) or oyster mushrooms. These will run you about $27/lb for chanterelle or pine. Ouch! It’s far more fun to find them on your own, plus to gain access to hundreds of other edible and delicious mushooms at the same time (here’s my shameless plug for Mushroom Hunting Trips in Vancouver). Above is a shot of seaweed risotto with wild califlower and porcini mushrooms by Chef Ted of Refuel at our last supper club. This is a puffball – edible and…

One of Vancouver’s best Thai chefs comes out of retirement for our guest chef series. October 16th at 6:30pm$49 for five courses by donationEmail us for a seat. Only 4 seats left As part of Swallow Tail’s guest chef series, acclaimed Thai chef, Chef Montri, comes out of retirement to cook a five-course feast. Chef Montri retired four years ago after 11 successful years as the owner and chef at Montri’s. His restaurant, located at Broadway and Alma, was consistently awarded ‘Best Thai Restaurant in Vancouver’ for each year it was open. Montri started cooking as a young man in a Bangkok hotel. He then moved to Copenhagen, Denmark where he trained as a chef. After five years in Denmark, he spent another five years as the Chief Steward on a cruise ship. The cruise ship was how he came…