3rd Annual ICC – Defending Our Backyard

E: Y’know, if I was to count out the number of vendors offering food over drinks, I think I sipped more than I ate. Yvonne didn’t get to try as much because she was allergic to half the foods offered. There were oysters and salmon to be found! And no one’s going to stop me from taking seconds or thirds on oyster alley. Well, except for when a few vendors ran out and they closed down early. After the event, I was still feeling a bit canivorous and there was no deer in sight.

J: With all the seafood dishes about, I kind of likened us to the Walrus and the Carpenter from Lewis Carroll’s Alice Through the Looking Glass. We did look the pair as we waddled around the green, trying to entice our share of shellfish.

E: I need to be kept back with a 10′ pole when it comes to seafood, or even that scent of pizza from a wood fired brick oven down the hill. That’s the first place we hit as a trio. But when I looked back, there was no James in sight!

J: I must thank the person in history who created the pizza. Some poor peasant made himself rich when he lost a few tomatoes under some Roman’s cart wheel, causing the historical inspiration. Pizzeria Prima Strada’s oven baked pizza reminded me how good it is to eat a slice of pizza without all that awful grease ruining what should be a culinary flavourful masterpiece.

E: Oh, my friend, this is just the beginning of our adventures. Prima’s baking process scores huge points, and I’m glad there’s two locations. One located at 105-230 Cook, and the other at 2960 Bridge. I can grab a bite there before going into work! But there’s also Il Posto that I like too. They have slices ready to go and for a guy on the run like me, pizzas sitting on a plate and needing to be reheated doesn’t bother me. They’re still tasty and are located downtown (1001 Douglas St).

J: We can have our pizza slice a la mode since they serve gelato on the side. It’s two healthier eating options my belt can handle. Do they serve Italian red wine in a cafe?. I wouldn’t mind a slice of pizza, some wine and a scoop of gelato for dessert. But I don’t think you would ever make it to the dessert stage with your affection for wines from vineyards you have yet to taste. Ed tends to soak up more alcohol than I do.

E: I have yet to spout poetry like a Vogon from Hitchhiker’s Guide To the Galaxy. Yeah, I can get imbued more easily, but at least I wasn’t like you James. Chasing after that one skirt and ditching us for some sweet honey. You missed on the duck burger Yvonne and I had. That was delicious! I loved the dandelion paste that was used to garnish the mini burgers, but I didn’t like the buns they used. It was a too dense for me.

J: If you are speaking of that female cook I almost tripped over my own feet for, I can only say she can have the top off my egg anytime. My absence was well worth it. I saw a beautiful jar of golden honey from half a field away. I made a b line to the Sea Bluff Farm table and bought their 2nd largest jar of unfiltered fireweed for $20. Unfiltered honey is just nature’s way of saying darned if I know what’s in it.

E: Yeah, you and your sweet tooth James. Mine were razor sharp for meat, and there were a few things to be found. From Truffles Catering were some nicely made BBQ pork cabbage rolls. I found them to be very juicy. I love it. The pork they used was nice without it being so strong. It was like a wet nose which didn’t oink back at me.

J: Speaking of meat and something which would go great with pork chops is the Maple Smoked Canadian Rock Salt. Ed and I tried a sample using apple slices at the Vancouver Island Salt Co. tent. I can say it has a strong presence. A word to the wise, less of this is more when you are using this to enhance your cooking.

E: For anyone lacking in iodine in their diet, what they use here will certainly kick it back in. I can see this used in a nice, big juicy New York steak cooked rare! Or maybe even on some corn beef too, like in what the Culinary Institute of Vancouver Island offered. It was topped on some brown bread that they must’ve made too. I actually liked it and I’m not one who is always keen on corn beef. I like ’em sliced and diced.

J: The corn beef was nice but I was really taken with The Village Butcher’s lamb balls. I’ve had store bought and homemade but to have lamb used gives a much more hearty flavour. I think on my next dish of spaghetti, I’ll be using lamb from now on.

E: I prefer my noodles with seafood, especially the crustatious kind and with a nice glass of wine. But more on that later, as I scuttle about looking for more seafood. Woo woo wo wo woo! Dr. Zoidberg, beware!