Month: February 2017

Canal Days at Gull Lake

Published by theporkgirl

For the Family Day Weekend The Spaniard and I invited ourselves to my sister’s cottage at Meridian Beach at Gull Lake, Alberta. Last Saturday marked the first annual Canal Days – winter edition – which provided an opportunity for The Spaniard to try out something truly Canadian – curling. After a week of warm weather I debated if the ice events could proceed, but on Saturday morning we arrived at the canal to find a flurry of activity. Our first curling game was set for 9:30 a.m. My nephew Kohen arrived with his own curling brooms – not sure how excited he was to have a couple of rookies on the team. I know the Spaniard was expecting to see a set of identical rocks, like on television, but Canal Days offered a more homemade version. Four litre milk jugs had been filled with coloured liquid and rings (or the house) had been painted on haphazardly on the ice. A post shared by Sharman Hnatiuk (@theporkgirl) on Feb 19, 2017 at 6:18pm PST We had …

Prairie on the Plate at the Yellow Door Bistro

Published by theporkgirl

Last week, Chef Jan Hansen hosted the first Taste Alberta – Prairie on a Plate dinner in Calgary. Following three successful Prairie on a Plate events in Edmonton in 2016, the dining series travelled down the QEII where chef Hansen treated diners at the Hotel Arts‘ Yellow Door Bistro to four-course meal highlighting the best of what is grown, raised, and produced in Alberta. The whimsical decor of Yellow Door Bistro was the perfect background for a creative menu from executive chef Jan Hansen, chef de cuisine Quinn Staple, and the rest of the Yellow Door Bistro culinary team. The challenge put to chef Hansen was to highlight Taste Alberta partners including Alberta Milk, Alberta Pulse Growers, Alberta Chicken Producers, Alberta Turkey Producers, Egg Farmers of Alberta, Alberta Pork, and Alberta Canola Producers Commission.   Chef Hansen started things off with a melt in your mouth amuse bouche –  Sunworks Farm chicken liver parfait, seabuckthorn berry, and a Highwood Crossing rye cracker. My date for the evening – fellow Passion for Pork contributor Dan Clapson – captured …