Defending Our Backyard

I am excited about the Defending Our Backyard food festival this weekend! Gourmet food, chefs, farmers, wineries, breweries, live music, and a historic location. And all the proceeds go to support local farmers. It’s the food fest to beat on Vancouver Island.

Unfortunately, this is also why I haven’t had the time to publish all my planned awesome posts. I have been busy getting my one-woman show ready to serve 1200 pieces of yumminess at said festival.

Luckily, I have been teamed up with the great Bill Jones of Deerholme Farm. He is making some killer honey-glazed wild salmon on a cedar plank while I humbly make a grilled bannock on which to serve this very indigenous food. (This is in keeping with our loose menu category,”Traditional Food”, which excites me quite a bit. I hope next year that we can have some First Nations chefs and elders working with us, and really get into some traditional coastal spring foods – eelgrass and kelp come to mind).

Despite the teamwork, thirty pans of grillable bannock is not something I can make in a day, or even two. I also (perfectionist that I am) had to test several recipes to determine the best ingredients to use for the best bannock flavour and grillability. I wanted to also include some more traditional plant foods in the dough. This project has eaten up most of my extra time this week, sandwiched between classes and private bookings, and I still have the biggest part yet to do.

(Just don’t remind my husband that it’s his birthday today, or I will have to bake a cake on top of it all:)).

However, I am really looking forward to the festival. Bring me somewhere food-focussed and I am always blissed out, no matter how much work is involved. I hope to get a chance, between grilling and serving, to try some great food and wine. And I very much hope to see my friends and fans there. Come out to the festival and support a worthy cause and get stuffed while you are at it! There are still some tickets left. Visit the Island Chef’s Collaborative websitefor more details.

And when you show up on Sunday, come to the Water Tent and try our salmon. It will be gooooood.