Crave: Midweek Crumbs

Firstly, a few midweek tidbits to pass on:

-A reminder for all you green thumbs who can’t wait to start on this year’s backyard bounty, the 5th annual Qualicum Beach Seedy Saturday in Qualicum's beautiful Civic Centre on Saturday, February 3rd from 10am to 3pm. Admission by donation. -- Keith & Joy Smith, 2503 Island Highway West. Qualicum Beach, BC V9K 1G5 gwenmar@shaw.ca 250 752 8135

-Chopped and glued from my comments box for all you spinners: Distaff Day is on Saturday, February 3, in Duncan. It's a day for spinners hosted by the Tzouhalem Spinners & Weavers Guild and will be held in St. John's Church Hall (corner of First and Jubilee) from 10 til 3. Last year's event attracted 80-plus spinners from up and down the Island and from Salt Spring! Bring your wheel and something for show & tell (you've got some fabulous knitted projects). Pot luck lunch, $3 charge to help pay the rent. For more info give coordinator Barbara Dowd a call at (250) 743-4116.
Thanks Alison for passing on the info!

-From my email box: The Green Store at the Port Place Mall in downtown Nanaimo has just brought in a huge shipment of organic products. They have everything from freezer/cooler food products to beauty supplies. Many of the items have to go quick!

******

Secondly, I want to share a couple of recent local food finds. I found these at my local supermarket this week:

Yep, B.C. Kiwifruit. I don’t know where in B.C. they’re from but since almost all B.C. kiwi fruits are grown here on Vancouver Island, I’m going to assume they fall within my 100 mile diet radius. YIPPEEE!!! They’re a tad smaller than the ones that are shipped all the way from New Zealand but I got a whole big bag of them for $2.50! They’re also not as fuzzy and don’t need to be peeled. So not only do they take way less fuel to get here, there’s also less waste in the end.

In a recent trip to Piper’s Meats, I found canned smoked Vancouver Island salmon:

So good to see more local products in the stores. Piper’s Meats has always made an effort to bring in locally raised products from meats to eggs and now they’re bringing fish! Double yippee!!!

So today I’m making Chinese potstickers with locally raised pork and veggies in anticipation of Chinese New Year. It’s only fitting since it is the Year of the Pig ;)

Instead of one huge Chinese New Year feast, I’m going to host a few smaller 100 mile diet dinners through February. Chinese New Year officially begins February 18^thbut I can’t wait so tonight, I’m hosting a pre-Chinese New Year dinner. We’re going to dig into some of those potstickers. I also have some locally grown gai lan (chinese broccoli) that I’m going to stir-fry up with moose sausage in a black bean sauce. Along with all that, I’m planning a 100 mile hot and sour soup with loads of local mushrooms, root veggies, local pork and chicken stock. I’ll post photos tomorrow.

For dessert, I’ve got homemade raspberry & rhubarb biscotti: