Toronto's #1 Food Safety Trainer
KEEPING THE INSPECTOR AT BAY AND FOODBORNE ILLNESS AWAY
Roehampton 'Food For The Soul' Society
Present, Future, and Past Events
Friday April 27, 2018 - "Cook Like A Sicilian Mama Dinner Party" - The evening commenced with a fun game of guess the flower that matches the country. Yep! Cheryl's at it again challenging our membership with fun brain teasers. This started the group with cerebral discussion along with a sip of an enjoyable refreshing white Olive Oil Emporium balsamic water beverage. Onto Chef Sharon's appetizer demo of an Italian favourite, socca or otherwise known as farinata with rosemary and red onion, made with chickpea flour provided from our sponsor, Cuisine Soleil. The socca was drizzled with a healthy amount of fine Tuscan Herb Olive Oil from another beloved sponsor "The Olive Oil Emporium". Baked at a high heat this appetizer came out the way it was intended, crispy on the outside and creamy on the inside towards a delicious beginning to dinner. A dinner salad was the first course. Arugula and spinach crowned with generous portions of marinated onion, organic orange and grapefruit segments, pistachios, toasted cumin, and torn mint; so very fragrant. And if that wasn't enough, the dressing was a citrus, garlic, and
Olive Oil Emporium fine olive oil that complemented the flavours so well. Our main course was a sweet and rich slow roasted tomato sauce over two coloured, spinach and plain, freshly rolled pasta. We bejewelled the fresh pasta with fired grilled eggplant, feta, pistachios, and basil. Your Sicilian Mama would be proud of this very special entree. The dessert was a luscious lemon square. A shortbread crust made with a blend of Cuisine Soleil Organic whole grain All Purpose Flour and an Organic all purpose wheat flour topped with a lemony custard and a tipsy Amaretto Chantilly Cream, framed by dotted plates of berry coulee and mint. Truly decadent. During dessert Cheryl shared some fascinating information about the health aspects and variety of walnuts. Have you ever seen a heart nut? How about black walnuts? She introduced us to the walnut family with a delightful informative presentation. A tasting of these nuts were shared to everyone's curiosity and a wonderful evening was had by all. Again the lovely people and lively conversation were the most fun part of this evening.
Friday March 23, 2018 - RFSS French Bistro - Mingling and chatting commenced as soon as people entered our elegant room. Warmth from the fireplace met warmth of the lovely people in attendance of our first French Bistro evening. Gathering everyone together around the demo area, Chef Sharon took out some unused wine, shelved from previous evenings, and showed how to put it to good use. "Never throw wine away. It's still has intense vinegary flavour that enhances recipes as you would use vinegar or wine. It does not spoil or go bad". She then prepared a dip with garlic, fine olive oil infused with Herbs de Provence from, one of our sponsors, "The Olive Oil Emporium", and yes...the unused red Grenache wine from Spain. We paired the dip with a fermented boule, a crusty chewy bread, fermented overnight and baked fresh for that mmmm moment. Next, we were all seated to enjoy a simple packed with flavour "Strawberry Spinach Salad". This salad was crowned with fresh organic strawberries, onions marinated in apple cider vinegar that lends a mellow savoury flavour, lightly toasted Styrian organic pumpkin seeds, donated by our sponsor Styrian Gold, and for the pièces de résistance, the dressing. The dressing was complete with Olive Oil Emporium fine balsamic vinegar and organic ingredients of olive oil, jaggery (unrefined cane sugar), molasses, and other goodies that made vinaigrette sublime. Onto the main, a crispy chewy cheesy gluten free galette (made with Cuisine Soleil All Purpose Flour), with a parmesan Dijon white sauce, on a bed of beautiful long, slightly charred glazed carrots. Cheryl then talked about jaggery, it's history, how it's development, and a treat of how sugar cane is actually grown and processed. Then she treated us with a fresh piece from a fresh long big crimson stalk, it comes in many colours. We all chewed the fibrous cane and extracted the cane juice. That's was fun! And yet again, the group was the just the best part of the evening. Cerebral discussion ensued, questions were asked and answered, new friends were made and now we can hardly wait for the next evening.
Friday February 23, 2018 - Modern Mexican Fiesta Dinner Party - How many ways can you spell fun?! This was one of the best RFSS dinners ever! The evening commenced with a heartfelt warm congratulations to two of our RFSS family members' engagement. Lots of chatter and excitement built us an appetite to indulge in the tangy and fresh crisp chopped salad. So many delightful treasures to be found in this green limey and colourful salad with jicama, corn, watermelon radish, red pepper, feta, avocado. It was so flavourful, I hope I am not forgetting something...hmmm. Then we took a bit of a sojourn into Chef Sharon's food demo, a poblano shrimp saute with fresh garlic, cumin, cinnamon, lemon, and honey. A truly wonderful choice for our pescatarian lover attendees. Now onto the entree portion of the dinner. The meatloaf was a savoury masterpiece, very moist, and jewelled with poblano peppers, carrots, celery and the chef's secret blend of spices. The meatloaf was crowned with a lime salsa sauce. We took a break from our feasting to learn all about cacao, as chocolate was to be followed with our desert. Cheryl enlightened us with the production and nutritional properties of chocolate. She even treated us with tastes of pure cocao whole beans, nibs, and the powdered form. This was a real education. How many of you have actually had a glimpse of chocolate in it's very raw form right from South America? Onto dessert, puddles of thick chocolate dipping sauce for our gluten free churros to dunk and delight. It was so rich and chocolatey, one churro was definitely not enough. And again, the very best part was the people. The conversation was a highlight as we went around the table sharing our introspective thoughts on "on the choice of feeling alive or perhaps being happy". It was so fun getting to delve into each others thoughts and laughter prevailed! Don't ask how we got into these deep topics, but all I can tell you is that the night seemed to end early at midnight. No one really wanted to go home this evening.
Friday January 26, 2018 - PanAsian Fusion Pescatarian Dinner Party - We started with a very comforting and lightly spiced Chinese inspired sweet corn vegetable soup spiked with ginger and garlic. Pescatarians eat fish right? This dinner party's focus was on the Kilapore Spring Trout marinated in a wonderful organic low sodium miso and sake sauce so full of flavour and tender goodness. But, another highlight was kaffir lime leaves that were dried and powdered before our very eyes! Then Chef Sharon powdered the purple mixed emperors rice with this fragrant limey dust. And for the crowning glory of our refreshing decadent lime charlottes with lime pepper cookies, that fragrant dust made a very pretty garnish as well. Who would've thought??? The conversation was extra special as Cheryl brought a display of wonderful pieces from her travels for the centre piece of our dinner table. Such items as a gorgeous petrified rock and some chaga fungi...you know... what we made tea with. The centre of the table was comprised of so many other cool things, like a pipes to play a tune. It was so fun to look at and then spawned a lively discussion. Cheryl also talked about that fiery root we all love, ginger! She shared all about the healthful properties. Everyone shared about their travels and the oddest things they have eaten. Lovely people, food, and chatter made this evening one of the best memories.
Friday December 15, 2017 - Multicultural Holiday Feast - Our holiday get together was everything we imagined and more! We started the evening with Sharon demonstrating how to mull wine with Syrah and sweet spices and yummy citrus floating here and there. The splash of brandy didn't hurt either. Then on to Cheryl's completely different chaga tea tasting with interesting nutrition facts. We used the chaga in the French onion dip appetizer to munch with crudités while sipping on our mulled wine. Then onto the buffet of an array of cuisines and taste sensations: Thai butternut squash casserole with a crunchy kaffir lime ginger coconut pecan streusel...say that 3 times really fast..."explosion of taste sensations", to quote a patron, so good!. Then onto our vegan gluten free main, a flavourful chickpea loaf with gravy, whole fresh cranberry sauce, with sides of lemony brussels sprouts with facon, and crispy potato latkes (pancakes). The dessert was a to die for...a sweet potato tart with a pecan and styrian pumpkin seed crust, crowned with almond ice cream and a sinfully decadent lick lick your fingers caramel sauce. We are so fortunate and a special shout out thank you to our sponsors Styrian Gold, Cuisine Soleil, and Olive Oil Emporium. And the very best part... the people who enhanced the food and cerebral and jovial conversation. A wonderful evening and a fun time had by all.
