Dining Out Redux

If I had known how long it would be before I could sit in a restaurant again, I would have ordered something to eat.

On what was my last Friday working from an office downtown, I was in a meeting that March afternoon listening to the plans for dealing with a virus that days before wasn't considered a cause for concern. We were told those who could work from home should prepare to do so for the following week; those like myself who weren't set up for remote work (they wouldn't let me telework because I was on loan from another department) were to receive instructions on Monday about whether or not to come into the office. Heading home, I decided to stop at Bier Market on a whim; I guess subconsciously I knew it was going to a while before I would be downtown again. That week, there were fewer people than usual milling around the area of Metcalfe and O'Connor, with the lack of toilet paper and hand sanitizer being a major topic of conversation. There were a  handful of patrons scattered throughout the eating area, no 5 o'clock rush to speak of.  I sat at the bar and ordered a Lagunitas IPA while watching sports highlights. As dead as it was, I assumed business would pick up as the afternoon turned into evening. Feeling good enough to face the clusterfuck that is waiting for a bus at Blair station during rush hour, I paid my tab and went to Parliament station to go home, thinking I'd stop in again within the next few weeks. That was four months ago - and a lot has changed since then.

We have only recently begun Stage 3 of the province's reopening plan. This allows nearly all businesses in the city to reopen, including gyms, movie theatres, and bars and restaurants for indoor dining; buffet-style dining is still prohibited. Health officials have said we can "safely enjoy the loosening of restrictions" as long as we continue washing our hands, covering our faces, and physical distancing. While the efforts our government put in place to flatten the curve are working better the ones the orange goblin in the United States chose to use, every story about new cases of COVID-19 rising in parts of the U.S. that opened their restaurant doors before we did makes me wonder if the rush to Stage 3 is happening too soon. Still, my curiosity about how local eateries are handling the new dine-in protocols got the best of me, so I made my way back to the last restaurant I went to before Ottawa went on lockdown.

It was around six Sunday evening when I drove downtown. I parked close to World Exchange Plaza, the first time I’ve been near the place since March, as working downtown stopped being an option when I was sent back to my home department where I was set up to work from home. I know that during the best of times you could shoot a cannonball down Sparks and not hit anything for minutes, but it seemed unusually quiet for a summer evening. There were patios set up at some of the restaurants on the way, but no one sitting and eating. With so little foot traffic it was hard to tell if some restaurants decided to close early, or not open at all. I was beginning to think I should have called to see if Bier Market was open, and was relieved to see a table of two on the patio and two hostesses in masks standing by the entrance, with various public health or social distancing warnings on the door to the restaurant behind them. I was asked if wanted to eat outside or inside. Even though the wind was starting to pick up, I chose outside. Viruses like COVID-19 spread through droplets that come out of our bodies when we open our mouths and drop to surfaces or the ground within two metres of us, and then circulate around a room. This isn’t a problem when outside as the droplets are diluted by the atmosphere. This is why Ottawa Public Health suggests we should wear face coverings and why the prime minister suggested we should refrain from speaking moistly back in April; it’s not as stupid sounding when you know why...no, actually, it still sounds cringeworthy. Let’s move on...

I was lead to my table after it was set up at the end of the patio several metres away from the table of two already there. Once seated, I was asked for a contact number for COVID-19 track purposes. Understandable, given we’re still in a pandemic, but still offputting - privacy advocates, take note. Having scanned the menu ahead of time, I went with the Drunken' Duck Wings, and the porter my masked server recommended, the Deschutes Black Butte. Heading inside with my mask on to use the facilities, I was surprised by the social distancing in the men’s room. One person at a time, with no urinals available for use, and only one stall available for both #1 and #2. I’ll assume it’s a similar setup in the ladies’ room, and I can’t see how this isn’t an issue in either toilet when it’s busy. On my way back to my table, I noticed only a face-masked bartender standing behind the bar, with not one person sitting inside eating.

Soon my duck wings arrived with the beer. I didn’t really get any of the “bier” flavour for something that was advertised as beer-braised, and the golden BBQ sauce wasn’t as spicy as I thought it would be, which was disappointing. I did enjoy the porter, the sweet dark bitterness was a nice change from the IPAs I usually drink. While eating, a party of seven came in to celebrate a birthday, but because of the new 6 people per table rule, they had to be split into two tables across from each other. After settling up, I sat and enjoyed being outside on a patio for a bit for a little while longer, then made my way home.

Is it worth going out to eat now? Depends on how badly you want someone else to cook and serve you your food and the food you are eating. Like everything in 2020, dining out means adapting to new rules. Outdoor eating is only a viable option a short time of the year, with staff already noticing the threat of bad weather will keep people from leaving home. Being indoors at a restaurant means having your face covered in some way, and it is expected that you will have a mask on when you're not enjoying your meal. If that is an issue for anyone, they should strongly consider the take-out option. A special dinner date or night out for drinks can be done if everyone follows the protocols put in place. My trip to Bier Market did a lot to alleviate my concerns about what going out to eat in the new normal would be like, but it also reminded me that being in Stage 3 doesn't mean we're out of the woods just yet. It will take a lot of effort on everyone's part before we're back to how things used to be.

Legends of Canadian Pastry: The Nanaimo Bar

The Sweet Canada: Domestic stamps series

Looking for something to do this Canada Day? Celebrate by making one of most Canadian of desserts, the Nanaimo bar. The most addictive thing to come out of British Columbia other than marijuana, the no-bake dessert bar was popularized in the years following World War 2, reaching national notoriety after Expo 86. Traditionally consisting of three layers (a graham wafer crumb and shredded coconut base, custard-flavoured butter icing in the middle, and a chocolate ganache on top), the official city of Nanaimo-approved version of the pastry came to be after Joyce Hardcastle's recipe won a contest the city held. With Canada Day options limited this year, why not give this recipe a try? It will definitely add to the excitement of virtual fireworks - stay safe and happy Canada Day everyone.

Ingredients - Bottom Layer

425 g graham wafer crumbs
250 g shredded coconut
125 g unsalted butter (European style cultured if possible)
125 g finely chopped almonds
75 g cocoa
50 g sugar
1 egg, beaten

1. Melt the first 3 ingredients in the top of a double boiler. Place on the stove over medium heat and bring the water to simmer. 
• If you don’t have a double boiler, half-fill a saucepan with water and heat over medium heat until the water begins to simmer. Then, place a metal or glass bowl over the simmering water and proceed as directed.

2. Add the egg and stir to cook and thicken. Remove from heat. 
3. Stir in the crumbs, the coconut, and the nuts. Press firmly into an ungreased 2 L baking pan.

Ingredients - Second Layer

500 g icing sugar
125 g grams unsalted butter
30 g vanilla custard powder
40 mL cream

4. Cream the butter, cream, custard powder, and icing sugar together well. Beat until light and fluffy. 
5. Spread it over the bottom layer.

Ingredients - Third Layer

115 g semi-sweet chocolate
30 g unsalted butter

6. Melt the chocolate and the butter over low heat. Remove it from the heat and let it cool. 
7. Once cool, but still liquid, pour it over the second layer. Cover everything and let it chill in the refrigerator until cold.

Adventures in BBQ: Pork Shoulder

For my birthday this year, my wife got me a compact vertical charcoal smoker/grill. I finally got a chance to try it out when I smoked a pork shoulder roast recently. Here are some observations on how it all came together:

• Like my favourite Arlen, Texas resident, I've always used propane and propane accessories, this is the first time I've ever used a charcoal grill to cook.
• I wasn't crazy about having to assemble my birthday present, this grill definitely has more moving parts than the box smoker I made a few years ago. The build went OK, took about a half-hour. I can't stress enough - always read and re-read the instructions when putting something together. If I hadn't, I would have put the charcoal in the ash pan instead of on one of the grills - oops.
• This smoker uses a water pan to prevent any fat from dripping onto the coals and helps regulate the temperature by adding some humidity. Hopefully, I don't douse my coals by accident during the cook.
• Getting a charcoal chimney to light my briquettes was a smart move on my part. 
• According to Jaime Purvuiance's "Weber's Way To Grill", the roast needed to be cooked with indirect heat, so around lunchtime, I got my briquettes lit, spread the coals on one side of the grill, and put the pork shoulder with the rub I applied to it earlier on the other. I wish I had grabbed some wood chips when I bought the briquettes; hickory or oak seems to be good all-purpose choices.
• It was threatening to rain all afternoon, with it spitting from the sky intermittently. Today's beer of choice: Pabst Blue Ribbon 5.9%,  a fine utility beer, one of the few cheap American beers that taste like actual beer.
• About 30 minutes in, I noticed my temperature was dropping because I didn't use enough charcoal. Keeping this grill at the 200-250 degree sweet spot on the temperature gauge will be the constant challenge, I had no idea how much I took the ease of propane for granted.
• Mental note, I need to buy a bucket for the ashes and something to move around the coals. A pair of heat-resistant gloves would also be nice in hindsight; no burns but why take the chance, right? 
• You know you're on the right track when your wife and your neighbour ask where that great aroma is coming from.
• Even though I let a 2 kg roast cook all afternoon,  I still checked to see if it was at temperature. The end result had a nice colour on it, and while the meat wasn't fall off the bone tender, it still made some damn tasty sandwiches.
• Overall, not bad for a first attempt. With the goal of smoking a beef brisket by the start of fall, it looks like I'm going to be spending the rest of the summer getting to know my new smoker.  This is a sacrifice I'm willing to make.
  
  

  

  Pork shoulder

  
   

Better Later Than Never: Beer Bread

2020 is, among other things, the year everyone's inner baker came out.  It may have slowed down a bit now that the province is slowly reopening, but people have been cranking out baked goods nonstop over the past few months even with baking ingredients in short supply during the COVID-19 pandemic. I'm not much of a baker, so I have no patience or desire to get a sourdough starter going. Instead, I went with a beer bread recipe for my baking therapy. It's easy to make because it eliminates the entire process of kneading, rising, and kneading again, as the beer’s yeast content reacts with the other ingredients in the bread mix, causing the dough to rise and start to leaven. So if you can get your hands on some flour, and have some spare beer in the fridge, give this recipe a try for some easy baked goods. Hopefully, you still have some spare time...

Ingredients

410 g flour (sifted)
60 g sugar
15 g baking powder (omit if using self-rising flour)
6 g salt (omit if using self-rising flour)
120 mL melted butter
1 (355 mL) can beer (just about any will work, even non-alcoholic beer, though the taste of your bread will depend on what you use; a stout will impart a stronger flavour than an ale.
NOTE: It is highly recommended adding a packet of dry active yeast or 6 g of bread machine yeast if you use non-alcoholic beer in order to get a proper rise)

1. Preheat oven to 190 °C.
2. Sifting your flour breaks down any clumps in it and makes the flour fluffier by infusing air into it. preventing the bread from turning into something hard and inedible. If you don't have a flour sifter, measure out the flour into a bowl and mix it with either a fork or whisk. Once done, add the remaining dry ingredients and the beer and mix everything together - mix the butter into the batter if you want a more traditional bread with a soft crust.
3. Pour the mixture into a greased loaf pan. For a buttery, crunchy crust, pour the melted butter on top of the batter.
4. Bake for one hour, then remove from the pan and let cool for at least 15 minutes.

Working My Way Through The Works: (Ten Burgers in) SK8R Boy

A popular gimmick for food blogs is to eat and review every item on a restaurant's menu. This blog is no exception. These are the observations I've had while eating my way through the burger menu of The Works, a Canadian burger restaurant with locations across Ottawa and Ontario.

May 12, 2020
Burger Description: "Peanut butter, jack cheese & bacon"
($18.28)

The original plan for this review was supposed to be completely different. I was going to celebrate hitting a double-digit number of these entries by eating at a different Works than the two locations I normally go to, but COVID-19 changed that for the foreseeable future. I couldn't eat the burger I wanted to review as the "Living on the Vedge" has been removed from the menu. So I'm going with a burger I've eaten back in the days before I blogged about food while seeing what all the fuss food delivery services are about after being a longtime holdout.  I had planned to do a pick up at the Orleans location, but The Works' website doesn't offer that service to its Ottawa area locations. Skip The Dishes, Don Draper's favourite service when he pretends to be Canadian is the default delivery option for all the local Works restaurants, but depending on the location, DoorDash and UberEats are also available.  Downloading the app to my phone was easy, and placing the order was straightforward. The app said my food would arrive ASAP, and 31 minutes later, the doorbell rang, and my food was there on the doorstep as I had instructed them to do. What arrived was the Avril Lavigne themed SK8R Boy - remember when people pretended to be appalled that she didn't know who David Bowie was back when she was the next big thing? My hamburger came with a healthy amount of peanut butter, so much I couldn't taste the jack cheese. Not tasting the cheese defeats the purpose of ordering a cheeseburger. The ghetto peanut sauce worked well with the bacon, and it gave the burger the expected nutty flavour, but it needed the kick that makes peanut sauce what it is. The peanut butter stuck to the roof of my mouth, which was a feeling I don't normally associate with hamburgers. Maybe that was why it was as filling and oddly addictive as it was. The onion rings were crunchy, flavourful, and in my opinion, very underrated as a side order. This is a burger that you need to be in the mood. It was interesting to eat, but I wouldn't order one again. To paraphrase the song it's named after, I say see you later boy, this burger wasn't good enough for me.

2.5 out of 5 stars - You'll get a well-cooked burger, but your enjoyment depends on your love of nut butter.

Streamline Your Supermarket Shopping

Grocery shopping in 2020 has become an ordeal.  New opening and closing hours; keeping two meters away from other shoppers; following the new one-way directions in the aisles - it's become a real pain in the ass. Now more than ever, we need to get in and out of the supermarket as efficiently as possible, with enough items bought to make it worth our while. Stocking your pantry with basic supplies makes it possible to have enough food for some decent meals while limiting your future runs to the store to buying perishable items and restocking. By purchasing the items below, you will help cut down on the number of times you have to endure waiting in line to get in and out of your favourite big box, warehouse, or grocery store - I can't think of a better way to flatten the curve.

Necessities

• apples
• baking soda (buy two boxes, one for baking, one for cleaning)
• baking powder
• bread
• butter/margarine
• carrots
• canned beans
• canned tomatoes (whole and crushed)
• canned tuna (chunk packed in water is good for sandwiches; white albacore is best for salads)
• chicken breasts
• coffee/tea
• canola oil
• cereal
• cheese 
• cornstarch
• cucumber
• dried herbs (basil, oregano, rosemary, thyme)
• eggs
• extra virgin olive oil
• flour (if you see some, grab it, it's been flying off the shelves like toilet paper recently)
• frozen vegetables (corn, peas, spinach)
• garlic
• ground beef
• jam/jelly
• ketchup
• lettuce
• mayonnaise
• mustard (yellow and Dijon)
• onions
• oranges
• pasta
• pork chops/steak (the same number of pieces of meat as household members per pack) 
• peanut butter
• potatoes
• rice
• salt
• spices (cinnamon, chili powder cumin, curry powder, nutmeg)
• sugar
• soy sauce
• stock cubes (beef, chicken, vegetable)
• vinegar

Extras (always good to have on hand)

• canned broth
• canned soups (a can of cream of mushroom and/or cream of celery, you got a key ingredient in a bunch of casseroles)
• canned vegetables
• celery
• chicken broth
• chocolate chips
• cocoa
• cottage or ricotta cheese
• cornmeal
• dried herbs (sage, tarragon, marjoram)
• evaporated milk
• frozen shrimp
• honey
• lemons
• nuts (chopped or whole)
• orange (or some other fruit) juice
• peppers (red, green, something spicier)
• plain yogurt
• popcorn
• raisins
• salsa
• seasonal fruit
• sour cream
• spices (allspice, cardamom, cinnamon sticks, cloves, coriander, star anise)
• Tabasco sauce (or another type of hot sauce)
• tortillas (corn and flour)
• tomato paste
• Worcestershire sauce

Splurges (you got to treat yo' self every now and then)

• Arborio rice 
• Basmati rice
• Ben and Jerry's ice cream (I'm loving the new Netflix & Chilll'd flavour)
• brownie mix
• coconut milk
• dried mushrooms (shiitake or porcini)
• fresh herbs (basil, cilantro, flat-leaf parsley, rosemary, sage)
• fresh pasta (specifically fresh ravioli or tortellini)
• marshmallows
• miso paste
• olives (not the ones in jars on the shelf, the ones from the deli or gourmet shop)
• pesto
• pine nuts
• sesame oil (remember, a little dab will do ya when using it on food)
• seasonal berries
• spices (Chinese 5-spice powder, garam masala, saffron)

Note: You know your food likes and dislikes better than I do, use some common sense when buying any of the above items. If you're allergic to something or have certain dietary restrictions, don't buy it.

Note: Information used on this blog came from "Cook Your Meals: The Easy Way", by Sharon Bowers, Macmillian Publishing

Double Frying Your Fries

French fries have nothing to do with France. What we now know as French fries can be traced back to late 1600 Belgium, where poor villagers were forced to use potatoes when the fish they usually fried was unavailable to them during the winter. American soldiers stationed in Belgium during WWI discovered their fried potatoes, and because the Belgian army spoke French, the Americans called them “French fries.", and the rest is history. Currently, there are over 90 million kilograms of Canadian French fry potatoes stuck in storage due to the diminished demand from restaurants because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Canadian producers are pleading for the public to consume more French fries, and because we're all in this together, I'm willing to do my part to help Canadian farmers out. If I'm going to be forced to eat more French fries, I may as well make them the best way possible - crispy on the outside, soft on the inside. As I don't own an air fryer, I will have to use the double fry method. This will take longer to make, but luckily, 2020 has given some of us all the time we need to live our best French fry life.

Ingredients

• Russet potatoes - they're denser and they have the least amount of moisture in them; avoid red and new potatoes as they contain so much water that they will actually hollow out when you fry them when the water evaporates
• canola or peanut oil - oils with a high smoke count will break down slower leading to crispier fries
• lemon juice

1. Fill a large bowl with cold water and add to it 15 mL of lemon juice. Set the bowl aside.
2. Peel some potatoes and remove any eyes from them. Slice the potatoes into French fries and put them into the bowl of cold water as you go. Potatoes start to darken if they're exposed to oxygen for too long, including the oxygen in the water - the acid from the lemon juice helps keep the potatoes white.
3. When you have enough fries, rinse them under cold water in the bowl until the water turns clear to rinse off any excess starch. Add another 15 mL of lemon juice and a few cups of ice to chill the water thoroughly. Move the bowl to the refrigerator to chill for about 30 minutes.
4. Heat the cooking oil you're using in either a deep fryer or in a Dutch oven to 163℃
5. Remove the French fries from the ice bath and pat them dry with paper towels.
6. When the oil reaches temperature, carefully add the fries to it. Cook them for 6-8 minutes, or until they're soft and are slightly golden in colour. While the fries are cooking, put some paper towels at the bottom of a bowl large enough to hold all the fries and set it aside.
7. Carefully take the fries from the oil and put them in the paper-lined bowl to drain.  Let them stand at room temperature for 15 minutes, or place the bowl in the refrigerator them again until you're ready to use them. Remember to turn off the heat under the oil during this time.
8. Reheat the oil to 190℃, and carefully return the fries to the oil to cook for another 2 to 3 minutes or until they're golden brown and crispy. Allow them the drain again, then salt generously, and serve immediately.