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LETâ€™S EAT 2019

CULINARY MAGAZINE

Tony’s Greek Grill We pride ourselves in using the finest quality products with natural ingredients to create traditional and entirely homemade dishes.

• Donair • Souvlaki • Spanakopita • Falafel • Kalamari • Greek Salad • Hamburgers and more! • Fresh Fruit Smoothies • Frozen Yogurt • Hard Ice Cream • Milkshakes

Eat-in or Take-out Open for lunch and dinner from April to September 5009 Hot Springs Road, Fairmont Hot Springs

250-345-6661

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“for “for the the love love ofof fine fine food” food”

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Ever-changing variety of culinary delights Radium Radium Hot Hot Springs, Springs, B.C. B.C. Radium Hot Springs, B.C. Ph: Ph: 250 250 347 347 0047 Ph: 250 347 0047 Gluten free &0047 vegetarian dishes Radium Hot Springs, B.C. mail@helnas.com mail@helnas.com mail@helnas.com Ph: 250-347-0047 Extensive wine menu www.helnas.com www.helnas.com www.helnas.com mail@helnas.com www.helnas.com Outdoor patio Find Find Find Find uson us onus on on us

Radium Hot Springs, B.C.

Find Find Find us onon ususon

Pub and Licensed Family Dining

Open 7 days a week • Lunch, dinner and late-night! Great daily drink specials! Voted Best Patio in Invermere • Overlooking Kinsmen Beach Live entertainment on some weekends.

1701 6th Avenue, Invermere (Above Taynton Bay Spirits)

250-342-5557 • the new station pub ~ now on

~ Great Food ~ Great Prices ~ Great Atmosphere

Breakfast, lunch and dinner

Open 7 days a week

Open 8 am everyday for Breakfast

Licensed Family Dining & Lounge • Eat-in or Take-out

250-342-8885 • rockyrivergrill.com • Visit Facebook for full menu. Licensed Family Dining & Lounge ~ Next to KANATA, just north of the Crossroads, Invermere.

Feed the Whole Herd!

Set in a stunning mountain environment, with a family-focused and budget-friendly menu, Antlers at Fairmont Hot Spring Resort has something for everyone. For reservations, call 250.345.6015 â€“ or just stop by with your herd and weâ€™ll find space for you to graze!

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From Scratch House Rules 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.

This is fun dining, not fine dining so please leave all formality at the door. Give us a heads up on your food allergies or intolerances. Put your phone away & enjoy your stay here – after you’ve tagged yourself on of course! Young opens door for old…give respect, get respect. A great meal is best with a cocktail, glass of wine or beer. Water is a necessity, not an option. Don’t be shy, talk to a stranger. Remember it’s nice to be nice. Sing along to the tunes — we know you want to. We recycle & compost here. Use only what you need & look after the environment — our kids will thank us for that. Well behaved adults & children are most welcome. Thanks to you, we get to live & raise our families in this beautiful valley. If you enjoyed your time with us, tell a friend or two hundred to keep us around.

EAT IN | TAKE OUT | CATERING | COOKING CLASSES | PRODUCT LINE

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Next to the Mountainside Market in Radium Hot Springs

Open Daily year-round for lunch, dinner, and late night drinks LIVE MUSIC

onday at 7 p.m. All year!

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Every Thursday at 9 p.m. All year! Saturday at 10 p.m. July and August

FREE SHUTTLE SERVICE Available upon request

Kitchen open late! Amazing patio with lots of outdoor seating

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25 0 - 3 47- 64 0 0

Take-Out • Licensed Patio • Open Daily

Delicious handcrafted pizza • Spaghetti • Hot Italian Sandwiches

Hawaii 5-0

Ham and pineapple with onions and bacon

O-Canada

Ham, mushrooms, bacon and fresh tomatoes

Cheeseburger

Ground beef, onion, mushroom, cheddar, fresh tomato, chopped cold pickles included

Mediterranean Chicken

Double Pep

Grilled chicken, peppers, tomato, basil and feta

Veggie

Pepperoni, salami, onion, banana peppers, jalapeños

Just like it sounds, for pepperoni lovers only! Mushrooms, onions, peppers, tomato and black olives

Greek

Peppers onions, tomatoes, black olives and feta

BBQ Chicken

Chicken, roasted garlic, onions and coloured peppers

Tex Mex

Ground beef, onions, cheddar, jalapeños, banana peppers

Meatza

Pepperoni, ham, salami and Italian sausage

El Diablo

Royal Hawaiian

Ham, pineapple, pulled pork, bacon, onion and banana peppers

The Works

Pepperoni, ham Italian sausage, salami, onion, mushrooms, peppers, black olives

Mercato

Pepperoni, Italian sausage, onions, roasted red peppers, bacon and roasted garlic

• SALADS • DESSERTS • ICE CREAM • VEGAN • GLUTEN FREE CRUST • DAIYA

460 SARAH ROAD, INVERMERE (At the Canadian Tire Site)

Ph: 250-688-3344 • pizzeriamercato.com

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POUTINEQUEEN.CA POUTINEQUEEN.CA OVER OVER3030FLAVOURS! FLAVOURS! Lactose-free Lactose-free andand sugar-free sugar-free flavours flavours • Milk • Milk Shakes Shakes • Gluten-free • Gluten-free cones cones • Frozen • Frozen Yogurt Yogurt • Sorbet • Sorbet • Sherbet • Sherbet

Hwy Hwy 93/95 93/95 & Black & Black Forest Forest Trail Trail at the at the Invermere Invermere Crossroads Crossroads

chillouticecream.ca chillouticecream.ca

Family owned and operated farm, greenhouse & café Edible Acres Café Eat in • Take out • Catering

We’re a warm and welcoming Destination Greenhouse. High quality plant material, expert gardening advice, friendly staff, delicious food for here or to go, certified organic veggies and garlic and natural beauty at every turn.

Our roots go deep

n i k a o s d n a h Come for lsulnicce of paradise our little mmer & fall! spring, su 1681 HWY 93/95 WINDERMERE 250-342-3236 GROW + EAT LOCAL WINDERBERRY.CA

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315 3rd Avenue, Invermere • 250-342-0209

www.fuzefood.com

let’s eat PUBLISHER/SALES MANAGER

Amanda Nason EDITOR

Steve Hubrecht STAFF WRITERS

Lorene Keitch, Dauna Ditson ART DIRECTION & DESIGN

Justin Keitch, IgniteCreative.ca AD LAYOUT

Emily Rawbon PHOTOGRAPHY

Katie Watt, Tracy Connery FRONT COVER

Tracy Connery ILLUSTRATIONS

Elizabeth Segstro, Katie Watt

N E W S PA P E R

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This material, written or artistic, may not be reprinted or electronically reproduced in any way without the written consent of the publisher. The opinions and statements in articles, columns and advertising are not necessarily those of the publisher or staff of Let’s Eat. It is agreed by any display advertiser requesting space that the owner’s responsibility, if any, for errors or omissions of any kind, is limited to the amount paid by the advertiser for that portion of the space as occupied by the incorrect item and there shall be no liability in any event greater than the amount paid for the advertisement.

Contents S USHI SAVANT 16 AZAMBOANGA ROMAS OF ADOBO: FLAVOURS 14

20 26 27 28 30 31 32 32 36 38 18

IN INVERMERE

TVALLEY HE GREAT COLUMBIA GINGER BEEF QUEST CHINESE O DE TO THE SMALL TOWN CANADIAN RESTAURANT ABOVE G ATHER: WILD ONIONS WINDERMERE G ROW: SHIITAKE HEAVEN IFERMENTATION N THE KITCHEN: SENSATION ISUSHI N THE KITCHEN: SCHOOL 101 I N THE KITCHEN: DESI DISHES FAMILY FEAST TASTY TRUCKIN’ CULINARY EXPLOITS ABROAD R ECIPES let’s eat

EDITOR’S NOTE // CONTRIBUTORS

the

asian cuisine issue From fervent foodies and armchair epicures to casual diners, when it comes to gastronomy, the Columbia Valley’s got something for everybody. But wait, you say, the valley may have a lot going on in its food scene, but what about when it comes to culinary diversity? Why, in fact, it’s got a plateful. Maybe at first glance the cuisine here does not seem as multifarious as in big cities such as Calgary or Toronto, but look a little closer, bite down a little deeper, and you’ll be pleasantly — and deliciously — surprised. The last two decades have seen successive waves of Asian alimentary trends take Asian food from niche to firmly mainstream, right across the continent — a phenomenon showing up here in the Columbia Valley too. Consider that not so long ago the idea of ethnic eating in the valley meant tasty and hearty European-style restaurants. Fast forward to the present, and those fine establishments have been joined by a small-yet-growing array of places offering Japanese, Indian, Thai, Vietnamese fare and more, in varieties both traditional and fusion. In part this reflects growing multiculturalism (in both Canada and the valley), but it also stems from people’s increasingly diverse palates. Flavours that once seemed different now just seem delectable.

So pull up your dining chair and chomp right in, as Let’s Eat sinks teeth into the various threads of Asian cuisine running through the valley. Dig in to the sapid backstory of local sushi wizard Dan Shoemaker, step into the home kitchen of the Invermere Filipina chef who dazzled a former Dragon’s Den panellist, and follow intrepid eater James Rose on a gonzo journey to the tasty Columbia Valley heart of the Chinese Canadian classic that is ginger beef. Dodge snowstorms with Windermere treeplanter and mountain gourmand Weston Buss as he forages wild onions in the Stanford Range, then learn how the valley offers the perfect environment for growing shiitake mushrooms. Tackle fermentation (and get the dish on the benefits of probiotics and prebiotics) with local nutritionist Katie Israelson, as she puts a mouthwatering Kootenay spin on Korean kimchi, get seriously studious about seaweed and rice with a small taste of the College of the Rockies’ sushi school, and much more.

What are you waiting for, it’s chow time, as Let’s Eat goes…

Katie Watt

Tracy Connery

Justin Keitch

James Rose

Erin Fetterly

Dean Midyette

Elizabeth Segstro

Weston Buss

Heather Lea

Katie Israelson

Other contributor: Jordy Montgomery Leah Scheitel

let’s eat

Dave Quinn

â€ŚDining dragon with the

Illustration by Katie Watt

SushiSavant By James Rose // Photos by Katie Watt

Editor’s note: After graduating top-of-class from a prestigious California sushi academy, Invermere’s Dan Shoemaker turned down generous offers to stay near Hollywood, opting instead to return to the Columbia Valley and wield his knives in Athalmer. James Rose gets down and delicious with the shinjirarenai story behind Fubuki Sushi.

he tako yaki (fried octopus dumplings) to start were exceptional, and the kawa-bunga roll (crispy salmon skin, tuna, teriyaki and green onions) washed down with frosty Sapporo even better. Fubuki Sushi owner and head sushi chef Dan Shoemaker had just knocked two out of the park. On another visit, the green dragon roll (tempura onion, asparagus, avocado, sweet soy sauce and wasabi mayo) and the Robinson roll (spicy grilled Atlantic salmon, cucumber and oshinko on a bed of tempura bits; named

let’s eat

after Dan’s protégé Drew Robinson), had Dan batting a thousand. It’s hard to overstate just how incredible it is to be sitting in Athalmer downing sushi worthy of comparison with New York’s Masa or Tokyo’s Yasuda. How and why? It all comes down to a surprisingly simple ancient formula, which Dan adheres to with dogmatic dedication: rice first, then fish. Without quality rice, sushi isn’t sushi. And, although minimizing transit time from ocean chop to chopstick is important, it’s not necessarily about using the freshest of fresh fish (fish literally straight out of the water is often too tough and chewy, and lacks proper umami flavours). With this in mind, Dan imports his rice, the best of the best, from California, and gets the majority of his fish from Canadian waters.

What else? A sense of time, speed and endurance — a trio of elements as crucial to outstanding sashimi and nigiri as to rock climbing. Go figure — Dan is also an avid four-season climber. The hobby calms his mind from the frequently frenetic pace at Fubuki. You don’t have to watch Dan long to see the detailed focus and discipline he uses to scale vertical rock faces in action in the kitchen. He is keenly aware of when each guest came in, and likely wants to eat (time); precision-crafts complex dishes in mere minutes (speed); and has the stamina and dexterity to hunch over a countertop churning out topnotch sushi, hour after hour, day after day (endurance). Dan respects tradition, but is not bound by it. Good thing, because creativity (and California connections) are in Fubuki’s bones. Hollywood writer and producer Patrick Hasburgh established the restaurant in the early aughts after he moved to Panorama from Aspen, Colorado, and found quality ethnic food lacking in Invermere (my, how times have changed). Snowstorms are common in the Columbia Valley, Aspen, and (especially) the ski haven that is northern Japan; hence fubuki, the Japanese word for snowstorm, as the restaurant’s name. Patrick’s daughter Jenson (then not even 10 years old) drew the restaurant’s logo. Fubuki’s first head chef was Haru Watanabe, local endurance athlete extraordinaire (see page 30). Dan eventually took over as both owner and chef after studying at the California Sushi Academy in Los Angeles. His family had lived in California before moving to the valley when Dan was young, so returning there to study the fine art of slicing fish seemed natural enough. “I went back to Hermosa Beach to live in the surfboard (store)room of our old neighbour. The academy was an intense education, but I loved it,” he says. Dan excelled and job offers rolled in from some of L.A.’s top sushi places while he was still in school. The sun and surf of southern California are nice enough to be sure, but no match for the mountains and wild spaces of the Columbia Valley. It was an easy decision to ditch Tinseltown glitz in favour of returning north and assuming the mantle at Fubuki. He made waves immediately. “Dan’s a savant,” says Patrick. “Seriously, to anybody, I say get to know him and his sushi.” Dan credits this to great instructors. The kind that aren’t cagey about sharing tips that otherwise would take a lifetime to learn. I nod as I watch him effortlessly slice off the rough outer skin of a dozen cucumbers in the blink of an eye, all while continually offering up opinions on college basketball, pop culture and much else. His unique technique is best appreciated by sitting at his bar and observing. The guy sitting next to me as I did so turned out to be the regular at Fubuki. At one time this fellow, in his own telling, spent 20 per cent of his wages at Fubuki, and he’s the record holder for longest single sitting there (the entire opening hours of the restaurant, minus five minutes, in case you’re curious). And really, can you blame him?

let’s eat

Aromas of adobo: Zamboanga flavours in Invermere By Steve Hubrecht // Photos by Katie Watt

ou can smell Rosemarie Bernil’s cooking before you see it. Fragrant aromas of bay leaves, black pepper and lemongrass hang in the air, punctuated by sweet notes of caramelized brown sugar and occasional sharp hints of vinegar and garlic. Knock on the door, step into her warm, bright apartment and two things immediately happen: Rose (as she prefers to be called) greets you with a singsong “welcome, come in!” and such cheery exuberance that she seems like a long-lost aunt; and the tantalizing smells of the Filipino dishes already carefully laid out on her table and still taking shape on her stovetop amplify tenfold. Suddenly you are hungry. Really hungry.

The smorgasbord looks more like a high holiday feast than a lunch. Why, you think, taking it all in, haven’t you tried Filipino food before? Good question, particularly here in the Columbia Valley where the local Filipino population has exploded from just three a decade ago to nearly 300 today. Most come to work in the hospitality and home-care industries, helping staunch the valley’s labour shortage. Many, including Rose, have made a home here, becoming permanent residents. Along with their hard work ethic, they’ve brought flavours and spices from an ocean away to add to the Columbia Valley palate. Indeed, these days bottles of ready-made adobo and kare kare sauce sit on local grocery store shelves.

In the kitchen, Rose’s hands fly as she moves between woks, putting the finishing touches on her famous pancit (fried Filipino vermicelli and egg noodles laden with vegetables and shrimp) and the pork, sweet yam and crisp lettuce filling for her fresh lumpiah rolls. The crepe-like lumpiah wrappers, half flour and half Aunt Jemima pancake mix, sit awaiting their contents in the dining room, alongside steaming beef kaldereta (a hearty stew that — thanks to Mama Sita achuete annato powder — boasts a vibrant orange sauce) and the de facto national dish of the Philippines: chicken and pork adobo. It’s the adobo (“no Filipino can have a party without it,” says Rose) filling the room with that deliciously piquant smell. It’s been marinated overnight in a tangy vinegar-soy sauce mix, and is now getting a long slow simmer with all those aromatics.

To say Filipino cuisine is diverse is an understatement. The Philippines has more than 7,100 islands, some 180 ethnic groups, four centuries of Spanish colonization, an even longer history of trade and influence from China, and, on top of that, countless regional gastronomic variations, all of which help shape Filipino fare. Think of it as fusion food, long before fusion food was even a thing.

let’s eat

Given all this, it’s hard to fathom why Filipino eateries are outnumbered and overshadowed in Canada by Vietnamese and Thai joints, but then again, who’s fathoming when you’ve got Rose’s lunch spread in front of you? The lumpiah is unbelievable soft moistness on the outside, and crunchy green and umami on the inside. The kaldereta tastes like pure wholesome comfort food, and somehow you devour the pancit in a matter of minutes.

Rose’s culinary skills flourished in tandem with her academic studies (she is fluent in Ilonggo, Chabacano, English and Cantonese), and before long she joined the burgeoning ranks of Filipinos seeking opportunities abroad (currently more than 10 million). She went first to Hong Kong, worked two decades there, then applied to work in Canada on a whim, at the behest of a persistent friend. She landed in Calgary and took the first job that arose, not knowing where the ‘Invermere’ mentioned in the employment description really was. “I took a nap as we left Calgary. I woke up and all I could see was mountains everywhere. No people. And we kept driving and driving. And more mountains. And still no people. I thought ‘Oh my, Rose, what have you got yourself into?’” she recalls, grinning broadly at the memory. But once here she fell in love with the small town on the lake in the mountains. There were only nine Filipinas here when Rose arrived, and her prowess in the kitchen quickly became legendary. “I was teaching one of my new Filipina friends to cook pork curry in her basement suite. The smells went upstairs, where the landlord lived. He came down, saying he had to try whatever we were making, and he loved it,” says Rose, outlining how her catering career began. Nowadays she cooks her specialities on order almost every week, feeding the birthday parties and graduation ceremonies of friends and acquaintances in and outside the Filipino community (and anybody else interested, for that matter). Even seasonal valley resident and Dragon’s Den panellist W. Brett Wilson has raved about her fare. (Even Rose, modest to the core, concedes of the pancit: “a lot of people love this. A lot, a lot, a lot). The adobo? Rose’s grandmother would be proud.

You can almost hear Rose’s grandmother smacking her lips in approval.

Rose grew up in a remote, rural part of lush, leafy, white sand-beach strewn Zamboanga, at the far southern tip of the Philippines, just across the Sulu Sea from Borneo. There, even by the already multifarious standards of Filipino cuisine, the food has a reputation for being particularly varied and distinct. There also, educational opportunities for girls are limited, so Rose – bright and eager to learn – was sent to live in a nearby regional city with her grandmother in order to attend high school. On weekends this meant rising at 4 a.m. to help set up her grandmother’s stall in the market. At 7 a.m., her grandmother dispatched Rose back to their home to cook breakfast, and prepare lunch and dinner. No simple feat for teenage Rose, as her grandmother harboured a meticulous devotion to using just the right ingredients in just the right season, cooked precisely the right way. “She would explain each ingredient to me before we (would) leave for the market; where it comes from, why we use it. Exactly when and how it goes in the pan. So many details. She (was) always saying ‘don’t overcook it. Don’t make it too salty. Make sure it’s good, Rose.’ I was always nervous for her to come home and taste test,” says Rose. “So now, even today, before I cook, I have to check everything and think. How hard are the carrots? How long will they take to cook? How about the potatoes?”

let’s eat

The Great Columbia Valley

Ginger Beef By James Rose // Photos by Katie Watt

Editor’s note: A Chinese dish “native” to the Kootenay (and a bit beyond)? Why yes, indeed, if you use the term native with a bit of licence. Ginger beef, a menu mainstay at every Chinese joint in the region, was in fact conjured up by George Wong at Calgary’s Silver Inn in 1974. It became an instant hit, quickly spreading into the Kootenay and across the Prairies. But bizarrely, until quite recently, no farther. The coast? No ginger beef. Ontario, Quebec and the Maritimes? Nada. South of the border? Doesn’t exist. Strange to imagine, when chefs in every single Chinese restaurant worth its salt in this neck of the woods cook plates of the stuff on a daily basis. So iconic is ginger beef here that it got its own section at an exhibit at the Royal Alberta Museum some years back. In honour of the exalted status of this local delicacy Let’s Eat dispatched James Rose on a gonzo-style quest to appraise the state of ginger beef up and down the Columbia Valley and points nearby. The results? Tantalizing. But before biting into them below, pause a moment to pity Ontario: all those mosquitoes, that odious weather AND no ginger beef. Some things are just not fair.

he tour de Columbia Valley ginger beef begins at Invermere’s Oriental Palace. Ginger beef has been on the menu here for 20 odd years. The Chinese chef came from Ontario, where there is no such thing as ginger beef, and so had to learn the craft of cooking it. You can’t have a Chinese restaurant in the Kootenays without this signature dish. The unmistakable tang I’ve known since first trying the dish as a child is acute. For the past several years, I’ve avoided ginger beef on account of doing Ironmans and marathons. Good to be back. Crispy, warm, a great sauce ratio. AM radio is the soundtrack in the Oriental, a benchmark that will be upheld in tour de ginger beef stops yet to come in Golden and Kimberley.

let’s eat

Golden’s Kicking Horse Palace, nestled below the Trans Canada, is up next. The chef/proprietor here hails from Guangdong, and the ginger beef is steaming hot, less pungent, crunchier, and more tender compared with that of the Oriental Palace. It’s also a darker shade of brown. I enjoy the taste. On to the Red Diamond, on Golden’s quaint main street. This place is interesting. Owner and head chef Frank Tang (at right) immigrated to Golden from Malaysia a half century ago, and before the Red Diamond, he owned a different Chinese joint. The fellow knows a thing or two about ginger beef: he’s been around it since its inception. His self-taught process for cooking it: slice a 20-some kilogram raw piece of beef into strips. Chill

Quest

for close to an hour in ice water. Hang to dry and, while waiting, prepare seasoning. Three eggs, salt and pepper. In a wok, mix those ingredients with the dried beef strips. Add a cup of cornstarch and flour. Frank uses aged canola oil to deep fry (it’s far more effective in binding to the meat). Once deep fried, back to the wok where a boiled mixture of ginger, vinegar, water and sugar is added. Ten minutes later it’s ready. Frank garnishes with sesame seeds, sautéed red and green pepper and caramelized onion. It’s my favourite of the whole tour. The beef has a strong voice projecting outward, with earthy seasoning notes serving as a preferable backdrop. Sugar and I are acquaintances, nothing more. The search for great ginger beef in Kimberley starts and ends in Kimberley Kitchen: the only Chinese restaurant in town. Their ginger beef is the crispiest of all and looks strangely like heads of traditional Chinese dragons. I can’t help but notice, as I devour, that this place inexplicably smells like my paternal grandmother’s house. I want to stop eating the ginger beef, but I can’t. Rachael Ray talks to Tiki Barber on the restaurant’s television. Artificial pink daisies are arranged on my table. The chef is thrashing away in the kitchen at something. Metal on metal. My waitress is exceedingly friendly, but doesn’t laugh at my jokes. I carry on, finding two more Kootenay Chinese eateries, and devour their ginger beef offerings. Driving back to Invermere, my innards begin tense negotiations with six plates of ginger beef. Yet my taste buds howl for more at the moon above, obscured by clouds. Rain hits my windshield.

let’s eat

Ode to the Canadian Jasmine and lapsang souchong Y By Steve Hubrecht

ou’ve been there before, many times, even if you’ve never been there. The lucky cat figurine waving at the front counter, formica tables and upholstered booths, laminated menus with numbered dishes, and splashes of bright red everywhere. Every small town in Canada has a Chinese restaurant. Each is independently owned, yet they somehow share an uncanny, nostalgic familiarity. The first time you step through the front door is with your grandparents, you and siblings in tow. Your parents are out of town, and besides when they take you out to eat, it’s fast food: burgers and pizza served by sullen teenagers under toobright fluorescent lights. But this Chinese restaurant — this is different. The lights are dim, decorative dragons leer down from the walls, and people linger at tables where tea cups clatter and conversation hangs in the air. To a 10-year old, it’s like a tantalizing glimpse into the forbidden world of adults.

Oma and Opa lead you to a round table in the back. You sit with your sister and brother, your feet barely reaching the floor. The stout owner suddenly bursts through the nearby swinging kitchen door, streaks of silver in his black hair and a wide grin on his face, clasping Oma and Opa’s shoulders, chattering with them as though they’ve known each other for years. Which, of course, they have. The menu is endless (Dish #104, beef broccoli stir fry. Really, 104?). That you later learn most of these meals

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have little resemblance to food in China matters not in the least (not then, not now). In your small town, at this, your first visit to the local Chinese eatery, chop suey and egg foo young are as exotic as it gets. And are your first indication that food — that indeed people themselves — can be so fantastically different. The dishes come out, piling up on the lazy Susan, which you delight in spinning more often than necessary. Chopsticks are fumbled, and everybody laughs; forks are requested. Sweet and sour chicken balls, chow mein, deep fried egg rolls, all disappear in a delicious flash. After dinner, tea arrives in separate blue and white porcelain China teapots: fragrant jasmine for Oma and smoky lapsang souchong for Opa. They don’t need to order; it’s always the same. Opa pours his deep reddish-black brew into a delicate cup perched on a saucer, while Oma mutters about his cherished lapsang’s naturally earthy aroma (“like socks,” as she puts it). He pretends not to hear. The fortune cookies come, and you eagerly crack them open. Opa jokes the message inside will read ‘help, I’m lost in a fortune cookie factory’. He will tell the same joke every time you eat here. You will always chuckle. Michelin stars? Who needs those, when you can dine like this.

e s e n i h C n w o t small restaurant Sweet & sour life lessons I By Erin Fetterly

grew up in small town B.C. My parents’ favourite restaurant was a Chinese place on the outskirts of town that we affectionately called “Ivy’s” after the hostess who showered my sister and I with unlimited fortune cookies. It was a special night when we gathered at the round table with friends to feast on what Lum, the cook, determined we would eat that night. These are the lessons I learned about life, etiquette, relationships, and negotiation over crispy fried noodle birds nest and hot and sour soup:

Bartering: After the serving plates were divvied up by our parents, my sister and I would begin bartering, negotiating hard to ensure we maximized our personal favourites. The one with the least amount of bitter bok choy on her plate was the unofficial winner. Looks aren’t everything: Just because pork is neon orange and looks toxic doesn’t mean it’s not crispy fried goodness covered in sweet, tangy sauce (requiring litres of fountain pop to quench the MSG thirst).

Trust the experts: We always requested Lum feed us his best, based on the ingredients he had at that time. Once he learned our dislike of chicken feet, he never led us astray. Perseverance: Learning to use chopsticks to pick up grains of rice and slippery scallops required a steady hand and unwavering determination. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes: Given the experience with chicken feet, we hesitated to try chicken balls. However, a protein battered, fried and sauced is quite often a safe choice, despite the name.

Sharing: When a dish had gone around the table once, and the best bits been equitably distributed, the leftovers were fair game for repeated raids by chopsticks, ensuring that residual vegetables and germs were nicely shared amongst the group. Independence: At four years old, being sent to the dance floor at the back to play after dinner was an early taste of freedom and independence. As a parent myself now, I also recognize it as a way for adults to enjoy the remainder of a carafe of boxed house wine and grown-up conversation. All good things come to an end: But hopefully there is a cookie filled with good fortune and winning lottery numbers before it’s all over.

Courtesy: Friendships were tested when somebody took a disproportionate share of the prawns. Everything in moderation, including moderation: Especially relevant on the All You Can Eat buffet night.

Legend of the Windy I

By Dean Midyette

t wasn’t that long ago that evening traffic jams were surprisingly common in Windermere, thanks to the exotic scents swirling around the Windy Cafe, a hole-in-the-wall eatery offering some of the tastiest Chinese fare east of the Orient. Upon entering the Windy, the uneven floors, campy decor and giant koi tank near the bar often had first-timers second guessing their choice of establishment. That is, until food began arriving at the table. With more than 100 dishes to choose from and a chef willing to prepare off-menu items on request, trying to pick a single favourite at the Windy was an act of futility. Popular choices included pork dumplings with made-from-scratch chili oil, and perfectly crisped ginger beef, but the options were legion, even for vegans, and everybody left sated, already planning their next visit. Alas, the Windy Cafe closed a number of years ago. The structure it occupied could no longer meet building code requirements. The family that ran the place migrated to Cranbrook, opening a restaurant there, prompting more than a few locals to begin regular pilgrimages south.

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Sit down to spectacular mountain AT and golf course views inside one of the Columbia Valley’s most contemporary restaurants. kf Catch a golf tournament on the patio’s 46-inch flat screen TV or as order a snack and cocktail by the pool. Either way, you’ll be t, Lu impressed.

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Elements Executive Chef creates ultra-fresh seasonal menus with ‘smart food’ selections d that inspire your healthy, active lifestyle. D in Room for a little indulgence?

Exquisite desserts, fun martinis, and gourmet coffees are best enjoyed on the wrap-around outdoor patio. s g in Meeting d rooms with golf ed course views make W d great locations for corporate n a retreats in any season. The beautiful s t wide-open space that rims Copper Point n e Resort is mirrored here in our vaulted ceilings and v E expansive meeting space on two levels, 6,320 sq.ft. in total. , s The Quartz Grand Hall, our largest ballroom spanning 3,155 sq.ft., g n i can easily seat 200. Looking for great outdoor event space? For smaller t e e groups up to 90 people, the Opal Patio can be reserved privately. Let our M expert planners arrange in-house catering and other details that might even include golf, ski or snowmobiling time for your group.

760 Cooper Road, Invermere B.C. 250-341-4000

copperpointresort.com

"Food quality and service were very good. Viewed the luncheon and dinner menus and found them to be quite varied. Sitting in the sun on the outside terrace, with a large umbrella, and enjoying the surrounding mountains while savoring our breakfast was unique and memorable."

Thomas M. | Trip Advisor

CliffhangerRestaurant.ca | 250-341-4102 | 1860 Greywolf Drive Panorama, BC

Gourmet Jams and Unique Spicy Jellies gluten free, sulphite free, dairy free with no added colours or preservatives Saunders Family Farm is well-known for our gourmet jams and unique spicy jellies. We also have sweet, juicy strawberries on our u-pick farm that many people, tourists and locals alike, visit every summer. This year, we also have delicious raspberries and saskatoons. Everyone says our jam tastes just like how grandma used to make it and our unique spicy jellies will be a new experience for your taste buds. Our Raspberry Pepper is the best seller of the jellies paring very well with Brie, cream cheese and crackers or as a side condiment with your steak or roast beef. It can also be used in a salad dressing to spice up your salad. The Strawberry and Strawberry/Rhubarb Jams are the best sellers made with the freshest strawberries around. Try all our tasty jams and jellies for a fresh taste of the valley!

www.saundersfamilyfarm.ca info@saundersfamilyfarm.ca

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Casual, friendly and affordable!

The

antina

Open April Through At Spur Valley October

Located at Spur Valley Golf Resort 15 minutes north of Radium on Hwy 95

Let’s have a little taste of Hungary

Open daily at 5:00 p.m.

Bring in this ad

and SAVE your dinner.

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On an uphill location overlooking the valley. 5067 Madsen Rd., Radium Hot Springs 250-347-9548 • www.milliondollarview.ca

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GATHER

Wild onions above Windermere By Weston Buss // Illustration by Elizabeth Segstro

Editor’s note: Foraging on the job? In a snowstorm? Local tree-planter and silviculturist Weston Buss details how to do it, and how to cook up a delectable northern Chinese speciality with the harvest.

esieged by an unexpected, yet typical, early June snowfall on a cut-block in the Stanford mountain range just east of my home in Windermere, I rummage through my pack for those emergency layers I so diligently carry, and quickly encounter the musty smell of damp, dirty polyester stored in a worn-out drybag. Those hot, sunny days in May get the body used to summer-like conditions, but moments like this justify my extra cargo. A snowstorm in June, just when you thought you were clear of Old Man Winter, is much like those tender young garden plants you put out on the Victoria Day long weekend, down in the valley bottom, before that sneaky last frost took you — and the plants — by surprise. Despite the exertion of carrying 50 pounds (22 kilograms) of pine, fir and spruce seedlings on my waist while scrambling over logging slash on steep ground, the tips of my fingers start going numb. But in the business of planting trees, you don’t get paid by the hour and the boss doesn’t pay extra for bad weather. You must put trees in the ground. I can’t see far on the hillside due to the thick snow and clouds. My mind drifts like those clouds, pondering how on a clear day I’d be looking down on the Certainteed gypsum mine, and to Lake Windermere. Annoyed that I’m now lost in thought, I urge myself to focus on the job at hand: the trees. But, oh…there’s that sweet umami scent again. So brief, yet so distinct. Like the kitchen smell of green onions being cut. I know there are wild onions out here, but where?! There’s enough snow now to bury my worksite. We are awfully close to being shut down by the foreman, and for good reason. Tender little trees suffer when planted in snow instead of dirt. Wait, what’s that? A lone pink flower bud, drooping off the end of a vibrant green stem, penetrating the settled snow. I am reminded of the fragrant garlic scapes we cut from the garden last summer, and see a vague similarity. I rip off a section of green stem, and hastily bring it, along with a filthy, gloved paw to my nose. Yes. Distinctively onion. Now completely distracted from my task, I use my shovel to scoop out the entire plant, and deposit this harvest in an empty compartment of my planting bags. My first wild onion. Also, the only wild onion I will get a chance to pluck this day. After finishing another bagful of ‘future forest,’ I emerge over the road edge to find an F-350 idling patiently by my cache of seedlings. The whole soggy, shivering crew is in the heated cab. A window rolls down to reveal my foreman’s face. “Time to go” it says, without need for words. I load my gear, and gingerly cradle my little wild onion for the drive off the mountain. What shall we make for dinner tonight? No question: Windermere wild onion northern Chinese pancakes. (See recipe page 39).

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GROW

Shiitake heaven

By Heather Lea // Illustration by Elizabeth Segstro

love mushrooms, yet until recently it didn’t occur to me I could grow my own. My eyes were opened after attending a mushroom-growing work party in Washington State, and reading a newspaper story about the success of Kootenai Fungi, which has been cultivating and selling shiitake and other gourmet mushrooms in Kimberley for the past four years. Shiitake mushrooms — loaded with all kinds of health benefits — have been grown for centuries in East Asia, used liberally for both medicinal and culinary purposes. Think Japanese miso, Korean pyogo bokkeum, or Chinese Buddha’s delight (a traditional stir-fried vegetarian dish prominently featuring — you guessed it — shiitakes). They have been cultivated on this side of the Pacific only since about 40 years ago, but growing conditions in the Pacific Northwest (including the Columbia Valley) are generally excellent. Cultivating shiitakes is not as complicated as you may think, though it may take a bit of work to nail a method that perfectly suits your specific local environs. Once you get past the initial effort, however, it’s basically set-it-and-forget-it gardening. I’m not a mycology expert, and for a complete how-to rundown you should check online, but what I will do is put the delectable idea of growing shiitakes in your head and offer a few tips to start. The process is essentially this: fell hardwood logs and cut into four-foot lengths. Drill holes into the logs and ‘plug’ shiitake inoculate or ‘seed’ into the holes. Cover any deep markings or holes holes (including the drilled holes), with wax to prevent contamination, then stack the logs, usually log-cabin style, in a shady place and leave those ’shrooms to grow. We used alder logs, but most hardwoods will work. If you can access oak, that is best. Try to fell your logs in winter or spring when trees are dormant. If you live somewhere that typically doesn’t get rain every two weeks, you’ll need to water your logs. Tap water can be okay, but chlorine is not great for shiitakes, so in Invermere, for instance, where the water is heavily chlorinated, use filtered water, distilled water or a clean river source. Cinder blocks and rebar are an inexpensive way to stack logs off the ground. You can also re-use wooden pallets, but make sure they are clean. Logs must be in full shade, where

rain can reach them (you can use a shade cloth, if the area is not shady enough). If your logs are more than 10 days old, soak them after plugging for 12 to 24 hours (but no more than 24). Let your logs cultivate naturally, as force-fruiting means the logs won’t last as long. Growth might take anywhere from four months to two years, depending on the species you’ve chosen, so be patient. If you’ve harvested the mushrooms and can’t eat them fresh fast enough, dehydrate them. And if your shiitakes just are not growing well, try other mushroom species. Some may work better than others with your system and the specific conditions in your local growing area. Happy ’shroom growing.

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IN THE KITCHEN WITH KATIE IZZY

Fermentation sensation By Steve Hubrecht // Photos by Tracy Connery

imchi has a strong flavour and a strong reputation. Those who like it, love it. And if this Korean side dish of funky-smelling, spicy, salty fermented cabbage has you a bit intimidated, well, you’re not alone. But really, you should swallow both your doubts and that first spoonful of kimchi. Not only is it a unique taste-texture sensation, it’s also really good for you. Ajummas have been burying traditional earthenware jars in the hill slopes of Korea to ferment kimchi for centuries, but in recent years kimchi, along with certain other fermented foods (hello kefir, kombucha and sauerkraut), has become one of the hottest culinary trends on the planet. A good dose of kimchi is these days as readily available in Sudbury as in Seoul. Heck, as Let’s Eat learned this spring, courtesy of local

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nutritionist and fermentation guru Katie Israelson (or Katie Izzy, as many know her), you can even make your own Kootenay-style kimchi right here in the Columbia Valley. Rolling up your sleeves and tackling the lacto-fermentation involved in creating kimchi can “feel like a bit of a science experiment at first,” Katie concedes, but the results are well worth the effort. “In an era where we are eating too many empty calories and not enough nutrient-dense foods, incorporating fermented foods in our diet is essential. They are rich in healthy gut bacteria that aid digestion, boost immunity, enhance brain health, and help regulate metabolism,” she says. “Getting your kids to help make kimchi is a fabulous idea. It’ll be fun, they’ll learn the benefits of fermented foods and if they help make it, they’re going to be more likely to eat it.”

IN THE KITCHEN WITH KATIE IZZY

In her kitchen, Katie dices cabbage, sprinkles salt, then deftly massages it with practiced efficiency. In goes an array of vegetables, garlic and ginger, then a spice paste laden with red chili flakes. (“Korean food uses spice in a whole other way,” she says. “In Canada, we’re worried about over spicing, but in Asia spice is what defines the dish.”) A quick mix by hand, into a brining jar, and just like that the kimchi is ready to start fermenting. (See Kootenay Kimchi recipe on page 38).

school in Vancouver.

“It’s an age-old method of preserving food, yet allows you to be pretty resourceful. You can use anything you happen to have left over in your fridge,” she says. “Fermentation changes texture, flavour profile and nutrient content. It’s remarkable.”

And to be sure, kimchi is perfect for tinkering. Add or subtract vegetables, depending on what’s in season and what’s available locally. Vary the spice level, or try out completely different spices (even turmeric works). Eventually you’re bound to find your favourite fermentation flavour, and can then join the kimchi craze.

Katie first encountered kimchi while attending nutrition

“It instantly satisfied a craving I never knew I had for something simultaneously salty, crunchy and spicy,” she says. “Once I learned it was also healthy, I had to have it all the time. I started going to boutique Asian grocery stores and trying different kinds, then began tinkering with my own versions at home.”

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IN THE KITCHEN WITH HARU WATANABE

Sushi school 101

By Dauna Ditson

Editor’s note: Let’s Eat staff writer Dauna Ditson enrols (and rolls) in the Invermere College of the Rockies’ sushi making course, with appetizing outcomes.

Haru Watanabe is not skittish with his knives. He dips a blade in water and bangs the handle against the counter to help the knife glide smoothly through the roll he is about to slice. He’s also deliberately making a racket. You have to be noisy so your guests believe you’re hard at work, he says. During his sushi-making course at the College of the Rockies, Haru presses half a cucumber onto his blade and spins the cucumber like a top, removing the peel and creating a thin green coil which he slices into strips. Scooping rice into a bowl, he shows our class how to wash it so thoroughly that the water runs clear. This step is so important that sushi apprentices in Japan can spend years as rinsers before getting to wield a knife.

worked in a sushi restaurant in Banff and later at Fubuki in Invermere. “I’m still learning,” Haru says. “It’s never ending.”

Following his instructions, we put our seaweed wrappers shiny side down and spread rice over them. Then we add the fillings Haru prepared for us: red peppers, crab salad, shrimp salad, tuna, salmon and more. We make rolls with the rice on the outside, rolls with the rice on the inside and cone rolls that are folded like edible origami. When we try making nigiri, Haru tells us he cut the salmon pieces to be as long as two fingers. You have to use a big enough cut of fish that it covers the rice or you’ll look cheap, he says. As I squeeze rice in my palm, Haru says it’s best to be gentle, that sushi is more delicious when it’s handled with care. Haru studied chemical engineering in Japan before he headed to the Rocky Mountains “to try to be a ski bum.” He

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Haru says most chefs in Japan, no matter how accomplished, would say they still have more to learn. Although it takes a great deal of commitment to become a bonafide sushi expert, he says anybody can benefit from some instruction. “It’s a basic knowledge, basic skill.” Being a sushi chef was fine in his younger days, but over time the long hours standing and slicing added up. Now an accountant, Haru traded in his knives for numbers. Accounting is “easier for the body,” he says, adding that sushi isn’t so different from math since both require precision. “I feel Invermere is really white,” Haru says, but by sharing his sushi skills at the College of the Rockies he is offering the valley a taste of Japan, a wasabi-topped morsel of diversity for everybody to enjoy.

IN THE KITCHEN WITH MANDEEP MAHAJAN

Desi dishes

By Dauna Ditson / Photos by Katie Watt

Editor’s note: Students from India have been coming to Invermere for the local College of the Rockies hospitality management program since last May. The students have quickly become a fixture in the community, interning at local establishments, joining in valley events, and celebrating traditional Indian holidays in festive style. As Dauna Ditson finds, for these students, coming to Canada doesn’t mean leaving the tastes of home behind.

Mandeep Mahajan’s small white stovetop is crowded with all the fixings for a feast. Inside one heavy-walled pot, a curry chole with chickpeas simmers, sending wafts of spice throughout the kitchen. He heats oil in a pan next to the chole and rolls a handful of dough peppered with cumin seeds, flattening it like a crepe, before he pops the bhature into the oil and supervises as it turns golden brown. I’m in for a treat better than any restaurant, he says, because even in India all the tastiest meals are homemade. Love is a key ingredient in home-cooked meals, of course, but so is time. Mandeep says Indian food is best when it’s made ever-so slowly “for enhancing aroma and flavour.” Tonight’s delicious dinner, for instance, was a three-hour production. “People eat to live, but I live to eat. I love food,” he says. “I like cooking, so almost every day I cook for at least me and my roommates.” Mandeep lives in a suite with seven of his classmates in the College of the Rockies hospitality program, sharing a long dinner table and a bench suitable for accommodating a bounty of guests. He hopes to cook professionally one day, if all goes well. That’s why he moved across the world and landed here in the Columbia Valley, where he is interning at Eagle Ranch as a server and kitchen assistant. “I just gave a really big riskful shot for my whole future, but I think it’s going on the right path,” he says. One of his most-affirming moments came recently. When he fed 160 people aloo tikka (a deep-fried potato dish) at an end-of-season

party at Panorama Mountain Resort, the guests finished everything he prepared and literally applauded him. Mandeep had been nervous about how his offering would be received and was thrilled that the guests “gave me so much respect and love.” Mandeep used to cook for nongovernment organizations in India and is eager to support non-profits and events in Invermere as well. As a Hindu, he feels sharing food is an act of service and worship. “If they feel like I can help them in the cooking area, it’s my pleasure. I would love to help them,” he says. Mandeep is also happy to teach anybody who would like to learn about Indian food in order to share the flavours of his homeland with the valley.

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Tasty truckin’ By Leah Scheitel

here are plenty of signs signalling the arrival of summer in the East Kootenay, but few are as flavourful as that of the lumbering green Chopstick Truck gearing up again. The food truck peddling Vietnamese street food began as an entrepreneurial offseason gig for sister duo Sydney and Taylor Salvador, helping them make some summer cash in between ski seasons, but over the past five years it has become something of a cult hit. That success — and the fact that the truck is, you know, on wheels — has allowed the sisters to expand well beyond their initial base in Fernie. You can now find them slinging their plump spring rolls, soft-yet-crunchy banh mi and fresh rice vermicelli bowls at festivals, bike races and weddings all over the Kootenay, right up into the Columbia Valley and beyond. Why Vietnamese? The sisters find the street-food element of the cuisine to be a perfect marriage of being quick-and-

Family feast E

convenient enough to be cooked in a food truck and being healthy enough to let them work with local farmers to stuff their offerings full of fresh vegetables and produce, all while letting them have vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free menu options. The pair learned how to make their fare from a Vietnamese mother-daughter team in Calgary, absorbing both northern Vietnamese and southern Vietnamese techniques, translating the results into one truly tasty truck.

By Steve Hubrecht

very two or three years the extended Wah clan — spread across the Kootenay, Prairies and coast — gather for a big old family reunion to visit, catch up, relax and, of course, eat.

‘Of course’ because for the Wah family, food is anything but an afterthought. Brother and sister Don and Glenda Wah, both Windermere residents, are one-eighth Chinese and grew up with their father running the Diamond Grill Chinese restaurant in Nelson (and their older brother Fred has written an awardwinning book, Diamond Grill, about it). Their father and Aunt Ethel were sent as kids to live in China, only returning later as young adults, which Glenda and Don agree had a profound effect on the flavours that then saturated their own upbringing here in the Kootenay. “It’s pure craving for me — real Chinese food, not sweet and sour chicken balls,” says Don. “It’s something we were raised into. We enjoyed it and it’s something we’ve come to cherish.” Aunt Ethel was a great matriarch in the Wah clan, as Glenda tells it, keeping family recipes and culinary traditions alive. It’s a mantle Don later assumed, partly because when he moved to the Columbia Valley in his 20s he would visit Aunt Ethel in Calgary often. These days even Aunt Ethel’s own kids turn to Don when they want to know how their Mom cooked a certain meal. “She really took me under her wing,” says Don. “I’d go to Chinatown with her and get all the things you’d never find anywhere else. Dried lily flowers, bitter ginger, bean threads.”

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Sitting on the porch and listening to Don describe how he cooks some of his favourite Chinese dishes makes clear that getting the right flavours is more about “a bit of soy sauce, then some garlic and a few Chinese dates” than it is about exact tablespoons and teaspoons and quarter cups. It also makes your mouth water: Whole chicken chopped and steamed with soaked dried lily flowers, whiskey or rye, ginger and garlic. A small piece of Chinese salt fish on the edge of your bowl. Bean thread stir fried with dried shrimp. Chicken oven roasted with soy sauce and plum sauce “until the whole thing pretty much falls off the bone.” Chinese sausage (“soooo good”). Black bean spare ribs steamed until all that black bean taste infuses deep into the meat. Salted turnip root. Beef and tomato stir fried with ginger (“a good winter dish”). Breaded casserole oyster chicken. Scorched rice tea (“our grandfather would always slurp that down after a meal. It’s got just a touch of burnt flavour”). “It’s an honour to have an ethnic background that’s so family and food oriented,” says Glenda. “Growing up we always sat down to family dinner. Sadly that’s something that for many other families is fading nowadays.” So it comes as no surprise to learn that the Wah family reunions, which are multi-day affairs with up to 100 people and are occasionally held in Windermere, always include a feast of Chinese fare on the main night. At a recent reunion the menu featured sweet and sour pork, mapo pork, stir fried veggies, pot stickers, chow mein, cod with black bean sauce, Chinese sausage, steamed pork, and wonton soup. It’s a night of family, laughter, memories and flavour.

• Specializing in European & Continental cuisine • Seasonal live entertainment • Evening special 5 p.m. – close

Located at the turnoff to Invermere on Highway 93/95

For reservations call:

250-342-9417

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We believe in tradition and quality at König. Trust us when it comes to select cuts of beef, pork, lamb or chicken perfect for an unforgettable dinner. Come by König Meat and Sausage Co. for our daily lunch specials, a fully stocked deli with smoked meats and cheeses, as well as select salad options. König Meat and Sausage Co. is renowned for our authentic gourmet, hand-made sausages. Try our traditional German or modern varieties.

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1210 - 7th Ave., Invermere • konigmeats.com let’s eat

Representing our local producers

A colourful variety of freshly picked produce and delicious aromas arrest your senses when you enter Sobeys Invermere. Sobeys is a full service supermarket, offering bakery selections and sandwiches prepared daily, a wide variety of Canadian and imported cheeses, fresh lobster, and an in-store butcher offering specialty cuts upon request. Sobeys Invermere is committed to partnering with local food producers, offering shoppers an authentically regional shopping experience. Owners Steve and Lori Ladas are active supporters of community initiatives and service groups, including the Columbia Valley Food Bank and the Hospice Society of the Columbia Valley. Steve and Lori are quick to credit their professional, experienced staff for creating the welcoming atmosphere that Sobeys Invermere is known for.

Open 7 days a week 7 a.m. - 10 p.m. Invermere

750 - 4th Street Invermere, B.C.

A Proud Canadian Company Since 1907

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Kootenay Meadows Milk Dave’s Hot Pepper Jelly From Scratch Sophie’s Pickles Saunders Jams and Jellies Bistro Dressing The Spatzle Factory Three Diamond Dressing Kootenay Bijou Hot Sauce Northern Cards Mrs Palmer’s Pita Snacks Konig Meat and Sausage Company Glacier Soap Kicking Horse Coffee Boccalino Dressings Scheffers Ice

At The Springs Course in the Heart of Radium • Best views in the Valley • Open 7 Days-a-week • Public Welcome • Monday Martini’s – All 2oz Martinis are $6

• Thursday Italian Night Italian Buffet 5-9 pm, $18.95

• Tuesday Early Birdie Breakfast – $5.99* Bacon & Eggs before 9 am

Friday Live Music Night – 6-8 pm

• Wednesday Wing Night 4-9 pm Each order of wings $10*

View menu and specials on

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Saturday Chef Attended Patio BBQ – 5-8 pm Sunday Morning Brunch 9 am - 2 pm, $18.95

Dine-In or Take-Out

View our menu a www.CopperCitySaloon.com

c i s u M e Liv y r e v e J and D ! d n e k e we Kitchen open late daily

• Try our legendary pizza, fresh dough made daily with fresh toppings

• Daily drink and food specials • Happy hour specials

Located at the Invermere Inn & Suites – 1310-7th Ave (Downtown Main Street)

250-341-3344

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Culinary exploits abroad memorable meals Columbia Valley writers dish on their most outside the Kootenay Illustrations by Elizabeth Segstro

10,000 cups of tea: Zanskar Valley gourmet By Dave Quinn bizarre trek out. A freak April snowstorm buried the region in more than a metre of snow in two days, and after a week helping an army of monks shovel snow from the ancient gompa roofs, we joined a small troupe bound for the roadhead near Kargil. Travelling at night on frozen snow to avoid avalanches and to go faster, we covered 160 kilometres in four nights, stopping at every village for tea and snacks, or to sleep on somebody’s roof through the hot sunny days.

f all the overuse injuries I’ve ever had, my tea-burnt lips on a trip to northern India were perhaps the most aggravating.

In his book Three Cups of Tea mountaineer and author Greg Mortenson popularized the Himalayan reality that, there, tea is a social cement between families, locals, and visitors alike. Nothing, and I mean nothing, happens without first sharing tea. Mortenson has since been accused of fabrications in his bestselling book, but I think one of his most grievous errors was a gross underestimation of the number of cups of tea you are expected to imbibe when visiting that corner of the world. We built up a tolerance for yak butter tea and tsampa (roasted barley flour, often mixed with yak butter tea and rolled into salty, sticky dough balls) during our 10-day stay at Karsha Gompa, the main monastery in the Zanskar Valley, but were still unprepared for the scalding onslaught we were welcomed with along our

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Our hosts hauled their best remaining potatoes from root cellars and their last, choice dried mutton from the rafters to make a gamey, barely edible soup for their guests. My partner Kelly, a staunch vegetarian, quietly poured most of her rancid portions into my bowl, forcing me to do double duty on the manky mutton. There was also a green chili paste that instantly triggered beads of sweat on our heads when we bit in. It was equal measures relief from the mutton soup and torture on the tea-scalded, blistered lips, extra tender from days out in the elements. One of many ironies of this high, dry landscape was an abundance of apricot trees. Kelly the vegetarian more or less survived on dried apricots, and we both loved our thrice-daily dose of apricot jam on chapatis. Another highlight was a suspicious hairball one of our hosts produced from a dank corner. It looked disturbingly like a shrunken human head, but inside its leathery exterior it contained the most delicious, rich butter I have ever tasted, and this yak butter with Zanskari apricot jam on warm, fresh chapatis remains one of my lifetime favourite tastes. The generosity of locals, who shared their meagre winter food supplies, garnished with beaming smiles and joyous calls of “Julay! Julay!” warmed us through that frigid Zanskari spring, and like any adventure, the flavours and memories of sharing their meals drove the experience so deep into our souls that it literally changed our lives.

And for the next course: laundry detergent By Katie Watt

ijstaffel: a multi-course Indonesian buffet that is clearly a meal meant for sharing. I tried it in Amsterdam, which owing to Dutch colonial history is the best city in the world for Indonesian food outside Indonesia. Sydney and I sat down to a mishmash of courses, bringing our own mishmash of palates: I’ll eat anything; Sydney is, well, a little more picky. As we munched lumpia bebek (duck and carrot spring rolls), satay sapi manis (beef kebabs), ayam semur (chicken stewed with nutmeg, cinnamon and cloves), fried noodles, and spicy green beans with tempeh, Sydney offered her unvarnished,

and unfavourable, opinion of each, indicating that the ayam semur “tastes a bit like laundry detergent.” I don’t like making assumptions, so I asked “and is that a good or bad taste?” We had different conclusions about the dishes, but one thing was inarguable: rijsttafel emphasizes that the company you dine with is as important to a good meal as the food. It’s an idea all cultures ought to take a bite from.

Chow time in the Lion City By James Rose

mmersed in Singapore as an undergraduate commerce student on exchange, I felt privileged to introduce my visiting mother and brother to the sophisticated, thought-provoking island city-state. Like the city’s classic fish head curry dish, much Singaporean cuisine is a capital M multicultural mishmash of the Lion City’s many ethnic influences, all stirred into a single bowl. Hawker centres. These bizarrely influential food distribution concepts captivate locals and visitors alike and are unique to Singapore. So, fresh off the plane, let’s go ma and big bro, to Maxwell, the city’s most iconic hawker centre. Immediate observations made by my visiting family: chaotic, pungent, humid, plastic chairs. All this (in their eyes) does irrevocable damage to achieving a satisfying dining outcome, despite the radiant, inviting Tian Tian Hainanese chicken rice (a Singaporeborn culinary staple oozing national pride). Hey, I tried. Fine then, let’s go to the Raffles Hotel, the grand dame of the island’s British colonial past and home to the fabled Long Bar, where peanut shells cover the floor, old-fashioned ceiling fans lazily swirl, and where the Singapore Sling cocktail was invented circa 1915. Gin calms nerves, enough to introduce my jet-lagged family to the idea of Singapore’s frenetic Little India, where the aforementioned fish head curry awaits, as a dinner option.

For breakfast tomorrow? Kaya toast, of course, and kopi (coffee) Singapore style: strained through a sock and doctored up with sugar, sweetened condensed milk and evaporated milk. Slathered on crust-free white bread, the creamy coconut jam known as kaya is a morning staple at kopitiams (coffeehouses). I describe the process of dipping the toast in a duo of soft-boiled eggs dashed with soy sauce and a dusting of white pepper. I emphasize again that this is a thought-provoking city-state and plead patience with my big bro. He pleads for Starbucks instead.

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RECIPES

Ingredients: § 1 medium head organic napa cabbage (or green cabbage), chopped small § 1/8 cup Himalayan sea salt § water, preferably distilled or filtered § 1 Tbsp minced garlic (5 to 6 cloves) § 1 Tbsp grated, peeled ginger root § 2 tsp fish sauce (vegan substitute: dulse flakes) § 1 to 3 Tbsp red pepper flakes (depending on your spice tolerance) § 6 to 8 radishes, cut into matchsticks § 1 medium carrot, peeled and cut into thin medallions § 4 medium scallions, cut into ½ inch pieces

Kootenay Kimchi Katie Israelson

Take gut health into your own hands and make this probiotic-rich fermented vegetable dish. Kimchi makes a delicious garnish, colourful salad topper or satiating side dish (see Fermentation sensation, pages 28-29). The fibrous vegetables in kimchi provide prebiotics and probiotics — a double win for your gut, brain and body. 38

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Directions: Place cabbage in a large bowl. Slowly sprinkle with the salt. Massage until it starts to soften and water releases from cabbage. Test for desired saltiness. Once achieved, set aside. Combine garlic, ginger, red pepper flakes, fish sauce (or dulse flakes) and one to three Tbsp distilled or nonchlorinated water as needed. (Most tap water in the Columbia Valley is heavily chlorinated, and this will negatively impact the good bacteria involved in the fermentation process). Add cabbage to the spice paste, then radishes, carrots and scallions. Use your hands to gently work the paste into the vegetables until they are thoroughly coated and vegetables start to soften. Pack the kimchi into a one-quart jar. Press down firmly on the kimchi until the brine rises to cover the vegetables, leaving at least one inch of space at the top. Seal the jar. For the next one to five days let jar stand at room temperature, out of sunlight. “Burp” your jar (i.e. open the lid) every day or two to release gases produced during fermentation (bubbles and gas mean that fermentation is active). Press down any veggies that rise above the brine. Taste it! A slightly sour or vinegar-esque flavour is desirable. If it’s not strong enough, ferment for another one to five days. When kimchi flavour is to your liking, transfer jar to refrigerator to halt fermentation. You can eat it right away, but it’s best after another week or two. Kimchi will last months sealed in a refrigerator. (Optional: add a probiotic capsule or powdered culture starter to assist fermentation).

Hopkins Harvest

Thai Red Curry

Jordy Montgomery

Windermere Wild Onion Northern Chinese Pancakes Weston Buss On sunny, southerly-facing hillsides, in well drained soils, and in other more surprising locations here in the Columbia Valley, the wild (nodding) onion can be found. In spring the young plants look remarkably similar to tall, concentrated tufts of grass. This makes finding them a little tricky. Wait until summer, when their characteristic nodding pink flowers appear, resembling the neck of a swan looking down. The plant is more tender when young, but also sweet and mild. Use them like green onions from the garden or supermarket. But don’t be greedy when harvesting wild food. Only take what you need, and not more than a third of what’s in any given area. (You can always return to your ‘secret spot’ next year and find even more). At home, store them in a glass of water to keep fresh, like flowers in a vase. Once you’ve gathered your wild onions (see Wild onions above Windermere, page 26), here’s a quick and easy recipe, inspired by Bill Jones’ Deerholme Foraging Book, to turn your harvest into a meal: Directions: To prep, wash the onions whole, and peel the dry, dirty casing off the root bulb. Slice off the hairy roots. Chop rounds up through the bulb and the green upper parts too. Tender spring onions have a lovely taste and texture, but be more selective when using summer ones, as they can get a bit woody. Whisk flour and salt in a medium bowl. Crack egg into flour, whisk

Editor’s note: Over the past few years Hopkins Harvest has developed a fervently devoted following among valley residents and visitors alike for its vaunted Thai Thursdays. Every Thursday from September through May (i.e. outside the busy summer season) Hopkins chef and Thai food fanatic Jordy Montgomery busts out the bird chilies, galangal, and lime leaves and whips up a different multi-dish Thai menu. Here’s his can’tmiss homemade veggie red curry recipe.

Paste ingredients § 16 seeded dried red chillies § 14 tsp roasted black peppercorns § 2 Tbsp roasted coriander § 3 minced lemongrass stalks

to combine yolk and white, then add water and whisk until smooth. I like a good thin crepe instead of a flapjack, so I add more water. Heat a large skillet to just above medium heat on the stovetop. Add a healthy splash of frying oil to coat the pan. Ladle a scoop of batter into the hot pan. Immediately lift the pan by the handle and gyrate to spread the crepe out to the edges. Flip after the edges start to brown (a minute or two). Lift and check for a finished crepe (another minute or two). Depending on the size of your pan and ladle, you might get about half-a-dozen crepes. Serve immediately. My partner and I sautéed mushrooms and zucchini, grilled chicken thighs and corn, and made a real-deal dinner with the pancakes as the base. Go for it.

Ingredients: § 1 cup flour (the fine gluten kind is best)

§ 4 tsp minced ginger § 8 kaffir lime leaves § 2 Tbsp minced cilantro § 5 minced shallots § 1/4 cup minced garlic § 2 Tbsp shrimp paste or anchovy paste § 2 tsp paprika § 1 to 2 ml lime juice

Directions (to use curry paste in a dish): Combine curry paste ingredients in a mortar and pestle and rub/grind into a paste. Sauté your veggies of choice in a small amount of butter. Add half cup (or more, as desired) coconut milk to pan along with two Tbsp red curry paste (or more for a spicier curry). Simmer for two to five minutes and serve on hot rice and garnish.

§ 1 pinch sea salt § 1 large egg (duck eggs are delicious) § 1 cup water § Handful of chopped wild onion (1/4 to 1/2 cup chopped) or more § Sesame oil (any other frying oil, or even butter, will do)

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Fully licensed

Fresh food made with fresh ingredients!

Restaurant & Lounge Open Year Round 5 pm daily June – September Lunch: 11:30 a.m. – 4 p.m.

Austrian and continental cuisine. Schnitzel, steak, seafood, homemade pasta and desserts. Daily 3-course dinner specials • Private functions for groups. Highway 93, Radium Hot Springs, B.C.

For reservations, call 250-347-6553

www.OldSalzburgRestaurant.com 40

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