Plenty Epicurean Pantry

We recently received a shipment of fantastic cookbooks and have displayed many of them on the front harvest table.  Here is one of my favourites:  Falling Cloudberries: a world of family recipes, by Tessa Kiros.

Tessa captures the spirit of her journeys around the world and her diverse cultural background as she celebrates home cooking across the continents.  This book is a pleasure to explore with vivid, colourful photos, stories about her family, and even a beautifully drawn family tree.  Our well thumbed copy at home is currently tabbed at the Oven-Baked Fish with Tomato & Parsley recipe on page 105.  It’s a simple comforting recipe good for a laid-back day.  Last year Eat Magazine posted Tessa’s Falling Cloudberries recipe for Honey Cake.

Falling Cloudberries is a great inspiration for engaging family in discussion about memories of food.  Tessa reflects on her mother’s experience with mushrooms:

My mother always talks of how they collected wild mushrooms in the woods in thin wooden plaited baskets.  The pines and birches and other trees were at their most splendid and the mushrooms were fantastic that same night, sautéed in butter with onions.

Visit last year’s Mother’s Day post for more cookbook ideas including a description of Apples Under The Bed: Recollections and Recipes from B.C. Writers and Artists.

Vernal Nest, Linda Jane Schmid

Near the till at Plenty we are honoured to be displaying Vernal Nest by Linda Jane Schmid, who works with us when not occupied painting and creating.  Below is her artist statement about this evocative piece:

As a child growing up in the Vancouver area, I was encouraged to look closely at the word around me. Playing in the forested ravine behind our house, going on family camping trips and to the beach in summer, I developed a deep affinity for the natural world.  As a young adult I lived in the Gulf Islands, embracing the values of a simple yet beauty-filled life, close to nature. My art-making practice developed through close observation of and delight in the myriad manifestations of natural forms.  This painting, “Vernal Nest”, has something to say about the animating forces of nature and the interconnectedness of all life.  In it I am expressing my perception and experience of the natural world as alive, mysterious, and articulate.

Linda Jane has shown other pieces at the store from time-to-time including her imaginative constructions of musical instruments (some of which are currently in the window next door at Studio Ryu), paintings from her Bee Series, and most recently from her Wind Series.

Vernal Nest evokes for me a sense of the simple utility and beauty of a home and it’s connections to place.  It makes me think of the words of William Morris where he speaks of clearing the home of all but that which is essential and beautiful.  At Plenty we recently received some William Morris cards from the Arts & Crafts Press including this one with his famous Golden Rule quote: 

Bobbie, co-worker and Plenty’s Alchemist of Activities, recently e-mailed a photo of the new filly (Lexie) and mama-mare (Ferrah) at the stables where she rides - a beautiful Mother’s Day photo:

Photo by Bobbie Holob of filly (Lexie) and mama-mare (Ferrah)

We recently received a shipment of colourful kites and fliers.  Perfect to take along on a picnic this Mother’s Day (May 9th) or Father’s Day (June 20th)!

Ever since the first kite was flown in China nearly 2500 years ago, kites have been considered works of art. High Art kites explore art and air by transforming a diamond shaped nylon fabric kite into an artist’s canvas. Two designs are offered, “Little Winged Demon” by Jan Kallwejt, and “Sky DuckWorm” by Julian Pablo Manzelli. The kites assemble quickly and come complete with instructions and a handle with string. They make it a breeze for art to take wing!

We also have some beautiful plane kits — The wonderful result of art meeting air!

A quality balsa wood rubber band powered model plane transformed by art into a delightful flying machine. “In the Clouds” was illustrated by Maki. The plane assembles quickly and easily so you can get straight to the good part – dazzling observers with lofty flights and graceful landings. Complete instructions are enclosed. It will quickly become a cherished belonging, so try to avoid crash landings!

Plenty Pantry Boxes for Easter

We’ve created some Pantry Boxes for Easter.  There are two versions with the one in the photograph above featuring Similkameen Honey (possibly the best honey ever), Bonnie Bea’s Oatcakes, a Denman Island Chocolate Bunny, and Green Tea Mints.  It is $26 and the second version with Strawberry Fig Jam instead of the honey is $22.  They make wonderful hostess gifts or presents for family and friends.

Rebecca has created two wonderful displays in the front windows.  One features her adorable and quirky animals (featured in a window last Easter as well and in a previous Journal article here). She creates an eclectic array of stuffed animals representing endangered creatures from around the world including the: Western Harvest Mouse, Grizzly Bear, Northern Leopard Frog, Woodland Caribou, Nuttal’s Cottontail Rabbit, American Badger, Red Wolf, Asian Elephant, Wild Water Buffalo, and Vancouver Island Marmot.  We have several Nuttal’s Cottontail Rabbits at Plenty that would love to be adopted as Easter Bunnies!

Endangered Animals by Rebecca Harvey-Glynn

The other window features beautiful antique botanical prints that we are selling in partnership with Jean Hutton, whose framing studio is across the street at 1031 Fort Street.  We also have a selection of her large botanical prints inside the store.  Below is the image of a print similar to some of the ones we have in stock. [ READ FULL ENTRY ]

Danza de la tigresa / Dance of The Tigress hand-tinted photomontage by Bill Blair

Under the spell of Mardi Gras & Carnival events happening this month Rebecca (check out her recent post about Lentils Du Puy) created window displays featuring four surreal Mexicana photomontages (including Dance of The Tigress above) by local artist Bill Blair.

Bill and Shelora recently returned from a trip to Mexico - check-out Shelora’s blog postings about the amazing food they enjoyed there.

Bill recently designed the new website for singer Lila Downs www.liladowns.com - it is animated and many of the figures have a musical element to it.  To listen to Lila Downs while you read the rest of this click here.  A number of Bill’s Mexicana originals, in the collection of chef Rick Bayless, can be viewed at the Chicago restaurants Frontera Grill and Xoco, and six recently went to another collector and are at the Austin restaurant Fonda San Miguel.

[ READ FULL ENTRY ]

On Valentines Day, Sunday February the 14th, please join us at Plenty to enliven your taste buds with salt and chocolate tastings!

photo courtesy of Michelle Loewen Photography

Michelle Loewen recently described a visit to Plenty in her blog Once upon a time.  She was introduced to Himalayan Pink Salt and loved it…

the lady told me she tasted the salt and it made her happy, that it just felt right.  i smiled, it seemed strange but some how i knew what she meant.  we started talking about salt and i asked her to recommend a good salt for everyday use.  the epicurean pantry where i was shopping had a whole little corner dedicated to salt, i knew i was in the right place.  plus this lady, she was passionate about salt and i loved that. she handed me a little pink bag of beautiful crystals, it was tied with a black silk ribbon.  …tasting that salt did make me happy. it is good and after all it is pink.

Ruby Red Bar photo courtesy Soma Chocolatemaker

New for Valentine’s Day - the Soma Ruby Red Bar - a dreamy limited edition bar made with 64% Dark Peruvian Chocolate spiked with Wild Cherries, Cranberries, Barberries, & Cocoa nibs dusted with crushed Sumac spice!

Please drop in on Sunday from 11 - 4 when we will be sampling some great salts and wonderful organic chocolate from Taza, Soma, Organic Fair, and Blanx Art!

Illustration by April Caverhill

We wish you a wonderful holiday season!

Best Wishes as you celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, Eid al-Adha, Kwanzaa, Yule…

Plenty will be open regular hours (Sunday & Monday 11 - 4, Tuesday to Saturday 10 - 6) until December 24th.

• December 24th: open 10 - 2 Christmas Eve
• December 25th: closed Christmas Day
• December 26th: closed Boxing Day
• December 27th & 28th: closed

End of the Year Sale (20 - 50% off)

• December 29th: 10 - 6
• December 30th: 10 - 6
• December 31st: 10 - 6
• January 1st: closed New Year’s Day
• January 2nd: 10 - 6

January 3rd - 11th: closed

We’ll be open again on the 12th but will close Sundays and Mondays until February when our regular schedule will resume.

Thank-you to April Caverhill for the wonderful ‘Plenty’ illustration (above).  Her illustrations are available on blank cards at Plenty.

April is a visual artist based here in Victoria. For over twenty-five years she has been illustrating for books and magazines in Canada and the U.S. Her innovative fibre wall hangings are exhibited in North America and Europe and have been featured on Canadian radio and television. April also conducts art workshops, focusing on working with youth and adults at risk.

A colourful crane created with paper collected by Gillian Gravenor

We’re still making and collecting cranes for the 1000 Cranes for Action on Climate Change.  We’ll continue to add to the collection in our front window until December 18th when the Copenhagen climate summit concludes.   If you contribute cranes that you’d like to collect back please pick them up on December 18th.  After that date we will be selling the cranes (many are very remarkable - made from a collection of maps and posters that artist Gillian Gravenor has contributed).  The cranes will be sold for $2 each with all proceeds going to the Mustard Seed Food Bank.

One of the wonderful things about Plenty is that I get to surround myself with great food and goods that delight me.  And these seem to attract people that delight me as well.

One of those people is Gillian Gravenor, a fantastic textile artist, seamstress, and creator of extraordinary things.  She came into the store asking for a fair quantity of whole star anise and I imagined that she was making up a batch of something quite exotic.  Gillian was using it in collages she was creating on cards.  Soon we were selling those cards and I feel so grateful for everything Gillian brings in from her studio. We have some of her curio boxes in the store - whimsical match boxes filled with curated urban detritus - they are little palm sized galleries.  We also have some of her tea cozies made with repurposed sweaters and in a month we’ll be bringing back her Christmas stockings (made from sweaters that are now fantastic as stockings but may have been a bit garish in their earlier form).  Gillian has also brought in vintage aprons that she’s collected and aprons that she’d made from vintage tablecloths and repurposed fabric.  Last Fall we featured a display of felted sculptures that are difficult to adequately describe but gathered together they looked to me like whimsically coloured sea squirts or perhaps a garden of fantastical squash.

Recently Gillian brought in an incredible wall hanging (pictured above) that features a crow made from shiny black buttons.  It is currently featured in one of the display windows at the front of the store with some fabric crows, some incredible crow tea cozies, and some of Gillian’s aprons.   [ READ FULL ENTRY ]