Plenty Epicurean Pantry

Image courtesy NWEI (www.nwei.org)

Table Talk ✱ First Wednesday ✱ at Plenty epicurean pantry ✱ 7 - 9 pm ✱ $24

On March 3rd Terralicious and Plenty will be co-hosting Table Talk. These lively sessions take place in the store on the first Wednesday of each month, from 7 - 9 pm,  and are an opportunity to sample wonderful food, share preparation and growing tips, and engage in great discussions about food and sustainability. Please e-mail trevor@epicureanpantry.ca to receive updates as plans develop or sign up for the first six sessions of Table Talk at the store.

Linda Jane recently shared this definition with me:  deipnosophist - person skilled in dining and table-talk.  It was used in plural as the title of a work by Athenaeus (3rd Century) describing long discussions at a banquet.

We will be starting the Table Talk series with a discussion course from the Canadian Earth Institute (an affiliate of the Northwest Earth Institute in Portland).  Please join us as we discuss food and sustainability over six sessions of Menu for the Future.

Join us to:

• Explore food systems and their impacts on culture, society and ecological systems
• Gain insight into agricultural and individual practices that promote personal and ecological well-being
• Consider ways to create and support sustainable food systems

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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.

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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!

Photo courtesy of Taza Chocolate (available at Plenty)

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

You’ve heard of wine and cheese tastings, but what about a salt tasting?

Salt has been harvested by humans since at least at least 6000 BC! Food and salt have been inseparable ever since. Salt tastings are a fun and easy way to explore the surprisingly wide taste spectrum of salt. And what better combination is there for salt than chocolate? So we’ll also be sampling some wonderful organic chocolate from Taza, Soma, Organic Fair, and Blanx Art!

The organic BlanxArt bars arrived yesterday after an absence for several months as I had to find a new supplier - they are back, as fantastic as ever, and at a great price!  They melt on the tongue like rich pudding.  Click here to read about some of the other chocolate that we feature.

Here is part of a KokoBuzz review of the Blanx Art 70% Organic Dark Chocolate Bar:

AROMA: Muted pear, hay, banana.

INITIAL IMPRESSIONS: Faint lemon and apple notes slowly open up.

MIDDLE TASTE: Avocado, lemon, apple, lightly toasted bread, milk.

FINISH: Butter, vanilla, wax beans, faint coffee-milk, apple, pear, and marshmallow at the very end.

TEXTURE: A bit chewy and pliable at first, then melts to smoothness.

Drop in for the tastings, we are open on Sundays from 11 - 4.

French Caribbean CD image courtesy of Putumayo

Plenty is pleased to join Putumayo in raising funds for relief work in Haiti.  In response to the devastating earthquake in Haiti, Putumayo is rereleasing the French Caribbean CD and donating 100% of their proceeds from the sale of each CD to The Red Cross, throughout 2010.  Five of the songs on the collection are by Haitian musicians.  Music has helped Haitians survive their difficulties over the years. Plenty will also be donating $9 from the sale of each French Caribbean CD to Shelterbox Canada.

The Shelterbox Canada project was founded within the Rotary Club of Ladysmith, British Columbia, and is promoted and administered by Rotarians from across Canada.  Shelterbox delivers immediate relief to victims of natural and other disasters anywhere around the world. To-date they have sent aid to 31 different countries, providing shelter for over 500,000 people.  Thank-you to Gillian Gravenor for bringing my attention to this great project.

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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.

Vintage Chocolate Making Equipment at Soma Chocolatemaker. Creative Commons licensed photo

We’ve recently received two shipments of some of the best chocolate anywhere.  Come in and treat yourself, or someone you like (a lot). If you are purchasing chocolate as a gift we recommend also buying a back-up bar (just in case something happens to the first - after all you should really try some yourself).

I was first introduced to Soma Chocolatemaker by event planner Christine Smart (Smart Events, christine@smartevents.ca) during Don Genova’s Food Culture Class at U-Vic.  Christine had brought this amazing chocolate that she’d picked-up while in Toronto.  Soma’s chocolate is remarkable both in terms of the texture they create and the complex profile of flavours that they craft.  I’ve been wanting more since that first taste.  At the time Soma was so busy that they were unable to fill wholesale orders.  They’ve expanded their capacity a bit and are now doing small wholesale orders for lucky stores like Plenty.

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The Legend of the Moksgm’ol

Long ago, when the earth was covered in ice, Raven - the creator - decided to change the earth to a beautiful green land. But as a reminder of when the world was pure and clean, covered with snow and ice, Raven went among the black bear people and turned every tenth bear white.

Raven promised that these unique bears would have unique powers: they would lead special people to special places and have the ability to dive deep in the ocean in search of fish.

Raven then set aside a rainforest home for the bears where he decreed that they would live forever in peace and harmony.

We recently received a wonderful shipment of Sacred Bear Soaps from Melanie and Kala Hooker (Mother and Daughter, Kala is expecting her third child any day now) of Telkwa, British Columbia.

Each bar is a beautiful oval, white handmade soap stamped with first nation artwork of a spirit bear looking at ursa major in the sky.  They are packaged in canvas gift bags screened with the artwork and the spirit bear legend.  Squamish Nation Artist Todd Baker designed the spirit bear image.  3% of the profit proceeds are donated to the Spirit Bear Youth Coalition for habitat protection of the Great Bear Rainforest.

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© Manuel González Olaechea y Franco (Wikimedia Commons)

We are thrilled to be carrying some savoury treats from the International Women’s Catering Co-op (of Moss Street Market fame).  Reach into the Plenty freezer for a tasty empanada or samosa:

Empanada
From Ecuador, an oven baked pastry with a vegetarian or beef filling.

Samosa
A crisp Indian pastry, filled with potato, cilantro, onion, jalepenos and peas or lentil with cilantro, leeks, onions, and spices.

The International Women’s Catering Co-op (IWCC) is a worker co-op located here in Victoria.  It practices business in a non-traditional way where ownership is equally shared; the business flow is structured around the needs of the members; and the decision-making process encourages participation by all. Since the co-op’s inception participants have ranged in age from 39 - 70 and have come from all parts of the world (including India, Japan, Oromia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Ecuador, Holland, El Salvador and Vietnam).  We hope to add more items from the co-op such as frozen soups and their amazing Buraqs.

Stock up the pantry for the holiday season or donate to a local charity with a fabulous FoodRoots holiday box filled with seasonal island and regional organic fruit and vegetables (20 plus pounds) for $50.

INCLUDING: LOCAL SQUASH, APPLES, LEEKS, PARSNIPS, BEETS

BC ONIONS, CARROTS, PEARS, POTATOES

Stop in at Plenty to order a box for yourself and / or one for charity: Victoria Women’s Transition House, Sandy Merriman House, Native Friendship Centre, Single Parent’s Resource Centre, or Casa Maria Refugee House.  The boxes will be fresh and ready for pick-up on December 19th and 20th (11 am - 2 pm both days) at the FoodRoots warehouse (unit 3 - 625 Hillside Avenue - between Rock Bay and Government). If the box was ordered for one of the charities listed above FoodRoots will deliver it for you.  Please visit the FoodRoots web site for more information.