Month: January 2016

Get Cooking launches brunch series with Chef Doreen Prei

Published by theporkgirl

I can vividly remember the first meal Chef Doreen Prei ever made for me. She had invited me for dinner at Zinc Restaurant, where she was the chef de cuisine, as a thank you for including her on a feature I had written for Where Edmonton on art-inspired/stylish food. The five-course meal was exquisite; visually stunning and unlike anything I had ever tasted before. Her chef’s menu was my first introduction to gourmet food, and the best part, it was made especially for me. Chef Prei still has that effect on me with her cooking. Most recently, I had the pleasure of experiencing brunch created and executed by Doreen at Get Cooking (a teaching kitchen that can accommodate pop-up meals located in the MacEwan Residence in Oliver). The space and concept is perfect for someone like Doreen who is a natural-born teacher. Although she trained in a Michelin Star restaurant in Germany, and even worked at a Gordon Ramsey restaurant in Ireland, Doreen is not a food snob. Sure, her standards for ingredients and what the final dish …

Day tripping in Asturias

Published by theporkgirl

While most of my Canadian friends who have been to Spain have either been to Madrid or Barcelona – I have been to neither. My time last summer was spent exclusively in The Spaniard’s province of Cantabria; however, over the recent holiday season I had a chance to head west and do some day tripping in Asturias. Asturias is known for it’s rugged coastline and mountains, which made for a beautiful drive. Our first stop in the morning was to Gijón, the largest city in the province. The unseasonably warm weather made for a lovely walk along the water and around town. Asturias is known for growing apples which are turned into cider (sidra), which is famously poured from above the head. Bottled without gas, Asturian sidra is served using this long vertical pour to help it aerate when it splashes into the glass. When we sat down to try a bottle – they offered us the ‘foreigner friendly’ table-top version. While pressing the button on the back of the figurine’s back was entertaining, The Spaniard …

Navidad en Santander

Published by theporkgirl

This past holiday season I traveled to Santander, which is straight north of Madrid on the north coast of Spain, to spend Christmas with The Spaniard and his family. The trip involved lots of family meals (with loads of seafood), and time for aperitivo’s and small bites with friends. It certainly did not look like the Spanish recession had hit Santander – the streets were packed with people drinking, eating and shopping. Our first full day in Santander was on December 24, and we met up with The Spaniard’s school friends at noon. We bar-hopped along with the masses for almost nine hours before making our way home for dinner. Back at The Spaniard’s parents place we had a Christmas Eve dinner with his two sisters, brother-in-law, and two nephews. We brought the Spaniard’s father a bottle of Crown Royal Northern Harvest – which had just been named 2016’s #1 whiskey in Jim Murray’s Whisky Bible.  Like The Spaniard’s nephew Dani I couldn’t wait for a bite of jamon. (I still don’t understand why I look like …